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arXiv · 1908.09731

Path integral approach to the calculation of the characteristic function of work

Tian Qiu·Zhaoyu Fei·Rui Pan·H. T. Quan
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Abstract

Work statistics characterizes important features of a non-equilibrium thermodynamic process. But the calculation of the work statistics in an arbitrary non-equilibrium process is usually a cumbersome task. In this work, we study the work statistics in quantum systems by employing Feynman's path-integral approach. We derive the analytical work distributions of two prototype quantum systems. The results are proved to be equivalent to the results obtained based on Schr\"{o}dinger's formalism. We also calculate the work distributions in their classical counterparts by employing the path-integral approach. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of the path-integral approach to the calculation of work statistics in both quantum and classical thermodynamics, and brings important insights to the understanding of the trajectory work in quantum systems.

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Tian Qiu, Zhaoyu Fei, Rui Pan, H. T. Quan. 2019-08-26. Path integral approach to the calculation of the characteristic function of work. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.101.032111

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