Memory Effect in Upper Bound of Heat Flux Induced by Quantum Fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum fluctuations and memory effects influence the upper bounds of heat flux in quantum thermodynamics, revealing potential modifications to work extraction limits.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized heat operator in quantum Brownian motion and demonstrates the impact of memory effects on the upper bound of heat flux.

Findings

Memory effects alter the maximum heat flux in quantum systems.

Quantum fluctuations influence the energy balance and work extraction.

The upper bound of heat expectation depends on quantum-induced memory effects.

Abstract

Thermodynamic behaviors in a quantum Brownian motion coupled to a classical heat bath is studied. We then define a heat operator by generalizing the stochastic energetics and show the energy balance (first law) and the upper bound of the expectation value of the heat operator (second law). We further find that this upper bound depends on the memory effect induced by quantum fluctuations and hence the maximum extractable work can be qualitatively modified in quantum thermodynamics.