Thermodynamic Implementations of Quantum Processes

TL;DR

This paper develops a framework for optimal, universal thermodynamic implementation of quantum processes that is accurate for any input state, introducing the concept of thermodynamic capacity and extending quantum thermodynamics theory.

Contribution

It introduces the thermodynamic capacity as a key measure for universal quantum process implementation and extends the theory to multiple scenarios including time-covariant processes and i.i.d. inputs.

Findings

Optimal work cost rate equals thermodynamic capacity.

New single-shot implementation for time-covariant processes.

Proof of asymptotic equipartition property of coherent relative entropy.

Abstract

Recent understanding of the thermodynamics of small-scale systems have enabled the characterization of the thermodynamic requirements of implementing quantum processes for fixed input states. Here, we extend these results to construct optimal universal implementations of a given process, that is, implementations that are accurate for any possible input state even after many independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) repetitions of the process. We find that the optimal work cost rate of such an implementation is given by the thermodynamic capacity of the process, which is a single-letter and additive quantity defined as the maximal difference in relative entropy to the thermal state between the input and the output of the channel. As related results we find a new single-shot implementation of time-covariant processes and conditional erasure with nontrivial Hamiltonians, a new proof of the asymptotic equipartition property of the coherent relative entropy, and an optimal implementation of any i.i.d. process with thermal operations for a fixed i.i.d. input state. Beyond being a thermodynamic analogue of the reverse Shannon theorem for quantum channels, our results introduce a new notion of quantum typicality and present a thermodynamic application of convex-split methods.