Measuring work in quantum many-body systems using a dynamical "work agent"

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Han, Cheolhee, Katz, Nadav, Sela, Eran
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Han, Cheolhee
Katz, Nadav
Sela, Eran
author_facet Han, Cheolhee
Katz, Nadav
Sela, Eran
contents We consider a generic quantum many-body system initiated at thermal equilibrium and driven by an external parameter, and discuss the prospect for measuring the work done by the varying parameter on the system. While existing methods are based on a full control of the system's Hamiltonian and are thus limited to few-level quantum systems, measuring work in many-body quantum systems remains challenging. Our approach relies on transforming the external parameter into a dynamical ``work agent", for which we consider an harmonic oscillator in a semiclassical coherent state with a large photon number. We define a work generating function which coincides with the standard two-point measurement protocol for work measurement in the limit of a large photon number. While \emph{in principle} it allows to relate the moments of work $\langle W^n \rangle$ to observables of the work agent, we focus on the average work, which is obtained from energy conservation by the change of the energy of the agent, which can be measured using photon number detection. We illustrate this concept on a transmon-microcavity system, which displays various quantum coherent effects including Landau-Zener Stükelberg interference and collapse and revival of Rabi oscillations. We discuss how our setup allows to measure work in a variety of quantum many-body systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_20729
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Measuring work in quantum many-body systems using a dynamical "work agent"
Han, Cheolhee
Katz, Nadav
Sela, Eran
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Quantum Physics
We consider a generic quantum many-body system initiated at thermal equilibrium and driven by an external parameter, and discuss the prospect for measuring the work done by the varying parameter on the system. While existing methods are based on a full control of the system's Hamiltonian and are thus limited to few-level quantum systems, measuring work in many-body quantum systems remains challenging. Our approach relies on transforming the external parameter into a dynamical ``work agent", for which we consider an harmonic oscillator in a semiclassical coherent state with a large photon number. We define a work generating function which coincides with the standard two-point measurement protocol for work measurement in the limit of a large photon number. While \emph{in principle} it allows to relate the moments of work $\langle W^n \rangle$ to observables of the work agent, we focus on the average work, which is obtained from energy conservation by the change of the energy of the agent, which can be measured using photon number detection. We illustrate this concept on a transmon-microcavity system, which displays various quantum coherent effects including Landau-Zener Stükelberg interference and collapse and revival of Rabi oscillations. We discuss how our setup allows to measure work in a variety of quantum many-body systems.
title Measuring work in quantum many-body systems using a dynamical "work agent"
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20729