arXiv subjects

Giacomo Guarnieri

Publications and source records attributed to Giacomo Guarnieri.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

In situ thermometry of a cold Fermi gas via dephasing impurities

The precise measurement of low temperatures is a challenging, important and fundamental task for quantum science. In particular, in-situ thermometry is highly desirable for cold atomic systems due to their potential for quantum simulation. Here we demonstrate that the temperature of a non-interacting Fermi gas can be accurately inferred from the non-equilibrium dynamics of impurities immersed within it, using an interferometric protocol and established experimental methods. Adopting tools from the theory of quantum parameter estimation, we show that our proposed scheme achieves optimal precision in the relevant temperature regime for degenerate Fermi gases in current experiments. We also discover an intriguing trade-off between measurement time and thermometric precision that is controlled by the impurity-gas coupling, with weak coupling leading to the greatest sensitivities. This is explained as a consequence of the slow decoherence associated with the onset of the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe, which dominates the gas dynamics following its local interaction with the immersed impurity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum work statistics with initial coherence

The Two Point Measurement scheme for computing the thermodynamic work performed on a system requires it to be initially in equilibrium. The Margenau-Hill scheme, among others, extends the previous approach to allow for a non-equilibrium initial state. We establish a quantitative comparison between both schemes in terms of the amount of coherence present in the initial state of the system, as quantified by the $l_1$-coherence measure. We show that the difference between the two first moments of work, the variances of work and the average entropy production obtained in both schemes can be cast in terms of such initial coherence. Moreover, we prove that the average entropy production can take negative values in the Margenau-Hill framework.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Non-equilibrium steady-states of memoryless quantum collision models

We investigate the steady state properties arising from the open system dynamics described by a memoryless (Markovian) quantum collision model, corresponding to a master equation in the ultra-strong coupling regime. By carefully assessing the work cost of switching on and off the system-environment interaction, we show that only a coupling Hamiltonian in the energy-preserving form drives the system to thermal equilibrium, while any other interaction leads to non-equilibrium steady states that are supported by steady-state currents. These currents provide a neat exemplification of the housekeeping work and heat. Furthermore, we characterize the specific form of system-environment interaction that drives the system to a steady-state exhibiting coherence in the energy eigenbasis, thus, giving rise to families of states that are non-passive.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Tunable phonon induced steady state coherence in a double quantum dot

Charge qubits can be created and manipulated in solid-state double-quantum-dot (DQD) platforms. Typically, these systems are strongly affected by quantum noise stemming from coupling to substrate phonons. This is usually assumed to lead to decoherence towards steady states that are diagonal in the energy eigenbasis. In this article we show, to the contrary, that due to the presence of phonons the equilibrium steady state of the DQD charge qubit spontaneously exhibits coherence in the energy eigenbasis with high purity. The magnitude and phase of the coherence can be controlled by tuning the Hamiltonian parameters of the qubit. The coherence is also robust to presence of fermionic leads. In addition, we show that this steady-state coherence can be used to drive an auxiliary cavity mode coupled to the DQD.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations from exchange fluctuation theorems

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations (TURs) place strict bounds on the fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities in terms of the associated entropy production. In this work we identify the tightest (and saturable) matrix-valued TUR that can be derived from the exchange fluctuation theorems describing the statistics of heat and particle flow between multiple systems. Our result holds for both quantum and classical systems, undergoing general non-Markovian and non-stationary processes. Moreover, it provides bounds not only for the variances, but also for the correlations between thermodynamic quantities. To demonstrate the relevance of TURs to the design of nanoscale machines, we consider the operation of a two-qubit SWAP engine undergoing an Otto cycle and show how our results can be used to place strict bounds on the correlations between heat and work.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

A quantum information theoretic quantity sensitive to the neutrino mass-hierarchy

In this work, we derive a quantum information theoretic quantity similar to the Leggett-Garg inequality, which can be defined in terms of neutrino transition probabilities. For the case of $ν_μ\to ν_e/\barν_μ\to\barν_e$ transitions, this quantity is sensitive to CP violating effects as well as the neutrino mass-hierarchy, namely which neutrino mass eigenstate is heavier than the other ones. The violation of the inequality for this quantity shows an interesting dependence on mass-hierarchy. For normal (inverted) mass-hierarchy, it is significant for $ν_μ\to ν_e$ ($\barν_μ\to \barν_e$) transitions. This is applied to the two ongoing accelerator experiments T$2$K and NO$ν$A as well as the future experiment DUNE.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Thermodynamics of precision in quantum non equilibrium steady states

Autonomous engines operating at the nano-scale can be prone to deleterious fluctuations in the heat and particle currents which increase, for fixed power output, the more reversible the operation regime is. This fundamental trade-off between current fluctuations and entropy production forms the basis of the recently formulated thermodynamic uncertainty relations (TURs). However, these relations have so far only been derived for classical Markovian systems and can be violated in the quantum regime. In this paper we show that the geometry of quantum non-equilibrium steady-states alone, already directly implies the existence of a TUR, but with a looser bound. The geometrical nature of this result makes it extremely general, establishing a fundamental limit for the thermodynamics of precision. Our proof is based on the McLennan-Zubarev ensemble, which provides an exact description of non-equilibrium steady-states. We first prove that the entropy production of this ensemble can be expressed as a quantum relative entropy. The TURs are then shown to be a direct consequence of the quantum Cramer-Rao bound, a fundamental result from parameter estimation theory. By combining techniques from many-body physics and information sciences, our approach also helps to shed light on the delicate relationship between quantum effects and current fluctuations in autonomous machines.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

A resource theory of Maxwell's demons

Motivated by recent progress on the motive power of information in quantum thermodynamics, we put forth an operational resource theory of Maxwell's demons. We show that the resourceful ({\em daemonic}) states can be partitioned into at most nine irreducible subsets. The sets can be classified by a rank akin to the Schmidt rank for entanglement theory. Moreover, we show that there exists a natural monotone, called the wickedness, which quantifies the multilevel resource content of the states. The present resource theory is shown to share deep connections with the resource theory of thermodynamics. In particular, the nine irreducible sets are found to be characterized by well defined temperatures which, however, are not monotonic in the wickedness. This result, as we demonstrate, is found to have dramatic consequences for Landauer's erasure principle. Our analysis therefore settles a longstanding debate surrounding the identity of Maxwell's demons and the operational significance of other related fundamental thermodynamic entities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Steady-state coherences by composite system-bath interactions

We identify sufficient conditions on the structure of the interaction Hamiltonian between a two-level quantum system and a thermal bath which, without any external drive or coherent measurement, guarantee the generation of steady-state coherences (SSC). The SSC this way obtained remarkably turn out to be independent on the initial state of the system, which therefore could be even taken initially incoherent. We characterize in detail this phenomenon first analytically in the weak coupling regime for two paradigmatic models, and then numerically in more complex systems without any assumption on the coupling strength. In all these cases we find that SSC become increasingly significant as the bath is cooled down. These results can be therefore directly verified in many experimental platforms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Unified treatment of the total angular momentum of single photons via generalized quantum observables

In this paper we provide a consistent framework to address the notorious decomposition of the single-photon total angular momentum (TAM) into a spin (SAM) and an orbital (OAM) component. In particular, we find that the canonical SAM and OAM, generators of internal and spatial rotations respectively in the space of physical states, are mutually compatible but unsharp quantum observables, therefore POVM (Positive Operator-Valued Measures) describe their joint measurements. On the other hand, a non-canonical SAM and OAM can be constructed that is mutually incompatible but represent sharp quantum observables, thus PVM (Projector-Valued Measurements), reflecting their consistency with the transversality condition characterizing singlephoton wavefunctions. We discuss the implementations on joint measurements for both decompositions and provide an explicit calculation of all these quantities for circularly polarized Gaussian single-photon states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Full counting statistics approach to the quantum non-equilibrium Landauer bound

We develop the full counting statistics of dissipated heat to explore the relation with Landauer's principle. Combining the two-time measurement protocol for the reconstruction of the statistics of heat with the minimal set of assumptions for Landauer's principle to hold, we derive a general one-parameter family of upper and lower bounds on the mean dissipated heat from a system to its environment. Furthermore, we establish a connection with the degree of non-unitality of the system's dynamics and show that, if a large deviation function exists as stationary limit of the above cumulant generating function, then our family of lower and upper bounds can be used to witness and understand first-order dynamical phase transitions. For the purpose of demonstration, we apply these bounds to an externally pumped three level system coupled to a finite sized thermal environment.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Nonequilibrium quantum bounds to Landauer's principle: Tightness and effectiveness

We assess two different non-equilibrium quantum Landauer bounds: the traditional approach based on the change in entropy, referred to as the `entropic bound', and one based on the details of the dynamical map, referred to as the `thermodynamic bound'. By first restricting to a simple exactly solvable model of a single two level system coupled to a finite dimensional thermal environment and by exploiting an excitation preserving interaction, we establish the dominant role played by the population terms in dictating the tightness of these bounds with respect to the dissipated heat, and clearly establish that coherences only affect the entropic bound. Furthermore, we show that sharp boundaries between the relative performance of the two quantities emerge, and find that there are clear instances where both approaches return a bound weaker than Clausius' statement of the second law, rendering them ineffective. Finally we show that our results extend to generic interaction terms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Energy backflow in strongly coupled non-Markovian continuous-variables systems

By employing the full counting statistics formalism, we characterize the first moment of energy that is exchanged during a generally non-Markovian evolution in non-driven continuous variables systems. In particular, we focus on the evaluation of the energy flowing back from the environment into the open quantum system. We apply these results to the quantum Brownian motion, where these quantities are calculated both analytically, under the weak coupling assumption, and numerically also in the strong coupling regime. Finally, we characterize the non-Markovianity of the reduced dynamics through a recently introduced witness based on the so-called Gaussian interferometric power and we discuss its relationship with the energy backflow measure.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Energy backflow and non-Markovian dynamics

We explore the behavior in time of the energy exchange between a system of interest and its environment, together with its relationship to the non-Markovianity of the system dynamics. In order to evaluate the energy exchange we rely on the full counting statistics formalism, which we use to evaluate the first moment of its probability distribution. We focus in particular on the energy backflow from environment to system, to which we associate a suitable condition and quantifier, which enables us to draw a connection with a recently introduced notion of non-Markovianity based on information backflow. This quantifier is then studied in detail in the case of the spin-boson model, described within a second order time-convolutionless approximation, observing that non-Markovianity allows for the observation of energy backflow. This analysis allows us to identify the parameters region in which energy backflow is higher.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Quantum regression theorem and non-Markovianity of quantum dynamics

We explore the connection between two recently introduced notions of non-Markovian quantum dynamics and the validity of the so-called quantum regression theorem. While non-Markovianity of a quantum dynamics has been defined looking at the behaviour in time of the statistical operator, which determines the evolution of mean values, the quantum regression theorem makes statements about the behaviour of system correlation functions of order two and higher. The comparison relies on an estimate of the validity of the quantum regression hypothesis, which can be obtained exactly evaluating two points correlation functions. To this aim we consider a qubit undergoing dephasing due to interaction with a bosonic bath, comparing the exact evaluation of the non-Markovianity measures with the violation of the quantum regression theorem for a class of spectral densities. We further study a photonic dephasing model, recently exploited for the experimental measurement of non-Markovianity. It appears that while a non-Markovian dynamics according to either definition brings with itself violation of the regression hypothesis, even Markovian dynamics can lead to a failure of the regression relation.

quant-ph↗