A shortcut to adiabaticity in a cavity with a moving mirror

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to implement shortcuts to adiabaticity in a quantum field within a moving cavity, enabling faster quantum processes without inducing the dynamical Casimir effect, with implications for quantum thermodynamics.

Contribution

It presents the first implementation of shortcuts to adiabaticity in quantum field theory for a massless scalar field in a moving cavity, utilizing conformal symmetry and avoiding the dynamical Casimir effect.

Findings

Derived a fundamental efficiency limit for quantum Otto cycles with a moving mirror.

Proposed experimental realizations using superconducting circuits.

Showed that shortcuts are effective when no dynamical Casimir effect occurs.

Abstract

Shortcuts to adiabaticity constitute a powerful alternative that speed up time-evolution while mimicking adiabatic dynamics. They are also relevant to clarify fundamental questions such as a precise quantification of the third principle of thermodynamics and quantum speed limits. In this letter we describe, for the first time, how to implement shortcuts to adiabaticity in quantum field theory, for the particular case of a massless scalar field inside a cavity with a moving wall, in 1 + 1 dimensions. The approach is based on the known solution to the problem that exploits the conformal symmetry, and the shortcuts take place whenever there is no dynamical Casimir effect. We obtain a fundamental limit for the efficiency of an Otto cycle with the quantum field as a working system, that depends on the maximum velocity that the mirror can attain. We describe possible experimental realizations of the shortcuts using superconducting circuits.