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Main Authors: Zhou, Tao, Pu, Jiangyang, Wu, Xiaohua
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.00832
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author Zhou, Tao
Pu, Jiangyang
Wu, Xiaohua
author_facet Zhou, Tao
Pu, Jiangyang
Wu, Xiaohua
contents The separation of internal energy into heat and work in quantum thermodynamics is a controversial issue for a long time, and we revisit and solve this problem in this work. It is shown that the Hamiltonian plays dual roles for a quantum system, and by decomposing the interaction Hamiltonian between system and environment accordingly, an ``effective Hamiltonian" for an open quantum system can be proposed. The explicit expression of the effective Hamiltonian is obtained systematically, and as a consequence, the internal energy of an open quantum system can be well defined, leading to the reasonable definitions of work and heat for a general quantum process.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_00832
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Thermodynamic work and heat for a quantum process: Approach by Hamiltonian decomposition
Zhou, Tao
Pu, Jiangyang
Wu, Xiaohua
Quantum Physics
The separation of internal energy into heat and work in quantum thermodynamics is a controversial issue for a long time, and we revisit and solve this problem in this work. It is shown that the Hamiltonian plays dual roles for a quantum system, and by decomposing the interaction Hamiltonian between system and environment accordingly, an ``effective Hamiltonian" for an open quantum system can be proposed. The explicit expression of the effective Hamiltonian is obtained systematically, and as a consequence, the internal energy of an open quantum system can be well defined, leading to the reasonable definitions of work and heat for a general quantum process.
title Thermodynamic work and heat for a quantum process: Approach by Hamiltonian decomposition
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.00832