Coherent fluctuation relations: from the abstract to the concrete

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum coherence affects fluctuation theorems in thermodynamics, translating abstract relations into concrete equalities for specific quantum states and proposing an experimental test with trapped ions.

Contribution

It converts an abstract quantum Crooks relation into explicit equalities for coherent, squeezed, and cat states, and proposes an experimental setup to test these relations.

Findings

Derived quantum Crooks equalities for specific quantum states.

Proposed an experimental scheme using trapped ions.

Showed coherence induces corrections to classical fluctuation theorems.

Abstract

Recent studies using the quantum information theoretic approach to thermodynamics show that the presence of coherence in quantum systems generates corrections to classical fluctuation theorems. To explicate the physical origins and implications of such corrections, we here convert an abstract framework of an autonomous quantum Crooks relation into quantum Crooks equalities for well-known coherent, squeezed and cat states. We further provide a proposal for a concrete experimental scenario to test these equalities. Our scheme consists of the autonomous evolution of a trapped ion and uses a position dependent AC Stark shift.