arXiv subjects

Harry J. D. Miller

Publications and source records attributed to Harry J. D. Miller.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Work fluctuation speed limit in boundary conformal field theories

We explore the fundamental limits on finite-time driving in quantum critical systems described by boundary conformal field theory. We show that stochastic work fluctuations arising from external driving are a resource for speedy control, and derive an exact, saturable fluctuation-based speed limit in weakly driven boundary conformal field theories at finite temperature. The bound and saturating protocol can be expressed entirely in terms of the universal scaling dimension, and the result interpolates between the Kibble--Zurek regime,where temporal correlations are strongly nonlocal, and an adiabatic regime where linear driving becomes optimal. For small scaling dimension, the enhanced temporal correlations produce pronounced departures from linear protocols and a larger optimization advantage. These results establish a universal work precision--time tradeoff for boundary-critical control, applicable to quantum impurity, fractional quantum Hall, and superconducting-circuit platforms.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Efficient optimisation of multi-parameter quantum control protocols for strongly-coupled systems

Achieving high-fidelity control in the presence of strong non-Markovian noise is critical for the optimization of emergent solid-state quantum devices. We present a highly efficient optimization framework that combines automatic differentiation with the non-Markovian uniTEMPO algorithm, enabling direct gradient-based optimization of complex objective functions. We apply this method to semiconductor quantum dots, optimizing multi-pulse excitation schemes: specifically Swing-UP of a Quantum EmmiteR (SUPER) and Floquet-engineered Two-Photon Excitation (FTPE) for single- and bi-exciton generation. Our approach yields high preparation fidelities within experimentally accessible parameter regimes. By integrating adiabatic rapid passage (ARP), we systematically enhance both SUPER and FTPE, demonstrating that these optimized protocols consistently outperform standard resonant pi-pulses and two-photon excitation. Notably, this performance gap widens at elevated temperatures, establishing the superior thermal robustness of our optimized multi-pulse strategies for real-world quantum hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Generating uniform quantum state ensembles with continuous measurement

We investigate the generation of uniform quantum state ensembles via continuous measurement. Using the $SU(d)$ Bloch representation, we derive the associated Langevin and Fokker-Planck equations and identify geometric conditions under which homogeneous monitoring causes global convergence to the uniform pure-state ensemble. We then extend the analysis to mixed states, showing that homogeneous purity-dependent decoherence rates generate uniform Hilbert-Schmidt and Bures ensembles of qubit states through an effective nonlinear stochastic evolution. Additionally, we introduce a post-mixing protocol for qubits: target mixed-state ensembles are assembled by classically sampling trajectories generated with different fixed efficiencies (or decoherence rates). This provides an experimentally feasible route to reconstructing Hilbert-Schmidt and Bures-random mixed-state ensembles, demonstrating that continuous monitoring provides both an exact dynamical generator of Haar-random pure states and a practical route to constructing mixed-state ensembles.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum work statistics at strong reservoir coupling

Determining the statistics of work done on a quantum system while strongly coupled to a reservoir is a formidable task, requiring the calculation of the full eigenspectrum of the combined system and reservoir. Here we show that this issue can be circumvented by using a polaron transformation that maps the system into a new frame where weak-coupling theory can be applied. Crucially, this polaron approach reproduces the Jarzynski fluctuation theorem, thus ensuring consistency with the laws of stochastic thermodynamics. We apply our formalism to a system driven across the Landau-Zener transition, where we identify clear signatures in the work distribution arising from a non-negligible coupling to the environment. Our results provide a new method for studying the stochastic thermodynamics of driven quantum systems beyond Markovian, weak-coupling regimes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Finite steps optimise dissipation in stochastically controlled quantum systems

Motivated by the need for precise, energy-efficient, and experimentally realistic quantum control protocols, we investigate the thermodynamic cost of performing quantum step-equilibration processes under the influence of classical stochastic control fields. Whereas purely deterministic protocols exhibit dissipation that scales inversely with the number of steps, we show that weak Gaussian noise in the control variables induces dissipative contributions that grow linearly with the number of steps. Consequently, we derive the finite optimal number of steps and minimal achievable average dissipated work and its variance using the quantum thermodynamic length. These results are demonstrated using two paradigmatic examples: a Landau-Zener sweep of a qubit strongly coupled to a thermal bath and the erasure of a transverse-field Ising model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Statistical Mechanics of Random Mixed State Ensembles with Fixed Energy

Mixed state ensembles such as the Bures-Hall and Hilbert-Schmidt measure are probability distributions that characterise the statistical properties of random density matrices and can be used to determine the typical features of mixed quantum states. Here we extend this framework by considering the properties of random states with fixed average energy, and the ensemble-averaged density matrix is derived under this additional physical constraint. This gives rise to a type of microcanonical ensemble for random mixed states and we connect its properties to a statistical mechanical entropy and temperature. Our results are illustrated using a variety of simple spin systems, and we find that they can exhibit exotic features such as phase transitions in the absence of energetic interactions and finite relative energy fluctuations in the thermodynamic limit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Roadmap on Quantum Thermodynamics

The last two decades has seen quantum thermodynamics become a well established field of research in its own right. In that time, it has demonstrated a remarkably broad applicability, ranging from providing foundational advances in the understanding of how thermodynamic principles apply at the nano-scale and in the presence of quantum coherence, to providing a guiding framework for the development of efficient quantum devices. Exquisite levels of control have allowed state-of-the-art experimental platforms to explore energetics and thermodynamics at the smallest scales which has in turn helped to drive theoretical advances. This Roadmap provides an overview of the recent developments across many of the field's sub-disciplines, assessing the key challenges and future prospects, providing a guide for its near term progress.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Entropy-based random quantum states

In quantum information geometry, the curvature of von-Neumann entropy and relative entropy induce a natural metric on the space of mixed quantum states. Here we use this information metric to construct a random matrix ensemble for states and investigate its key statistical properties such as the asymptotic eigenvalue density and mean entropy. We present an algorithm for generating these entropy-based random density matrices, thus providing a new recipe for random state generation that differs from the well established Hilbert-Schmidt and Bures-Hall ensemble approaches. We also prove a duality between the entropy-based state ensemble and a random Hamiltonian model constructed from the thermodynamic length over the set of Gibbs states. This Hamiltonian model is found to display Wigner level repulsion, implying that the dual state ensemble can be realised as a random Gibbs state with respect to a class of chaotic Hamiltonians. As an application we use our model to compute the survival probability of a randomly evolved thermofield double state, predicting a ramp and plateau over time that is characteristic of quantum chaos. For other applications, the entropy-based ensemble can be used as an uninformative prior for Bayesian quantum state or Hamiltonian tomography.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Restoring the second law to classical-quantum dynamics

All physical theories should obey the second law of thermodynamics. However, existing proposals to describe the dynamics of hybrid classical-quantum systems either violate the second law or lack a proof of its existence. Here we rectify this by studying classical-quantum dynamics that are (1) linear and completely-positive and (2) preserve the thermal state of the classical-quantum system. We first prove that such dynamics necessarily satisfy the second law. We then show how these dynamics may be constructed, proposing dynamics that generalise the standard Langevin and Fokker-Planck equations for classical systems in thermal environments to include back-reaction from a quantum degree of freedom. Deriving necessary and sufficient conditions for completely-positive, linear and continuous classical-quantum dynamics to satisfy detailed balance, we find this property satisfied by our dynamics. To illustrate the formalism and its applications we introduce two models. The first is an analytically solvable model of an overdamped classical system coupled to a quantum two-level system, which we use to study the total entropy production in both quantum system and classical measurement apparatus during a quantum measurement. The second describes an underdamped classical-quantum oscillator system subject to friction, which we numerically demonstrate exhibits thermalisation in the adiabatic basis, showing the relevance of our dynamics for the mixed classical-quantum simulation of molecules.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Optimal limits of continuously monitored thermometers and their Hamiltonian structure

We investigate the fundamental and practical precision limits of thermometry in bosonic and fermionic environments by coupling an $N$-level probe to them and continuously monitoring it. Our findings show that the ultimate precision limit, quantified by the Fisher information, scales linearly with $N$, offering an exponential improvement over equilibrium thermometry, where the scaling is only $\log^2 N$. For a fixed Hamiltonian structure, we develop a maximum likelihood estimation strategy that maps the observed continuously monitored trajectories of the probe into temperature estimates with minimal error. By optimizing over all possible Hamiltonian structures, we discover that the optimal configuration is an effective two-level system, with both levels exhibiting degeneracy that increases with $N$-a stark contrast to equilibrium thermometry, where the ground state remains non-degenerate. Our results have practical implications. First, continuous monitoring is experimentally feasible on several platforms and accounts for the preparation time of the probe, which is often overlooked in other approaches such as prepare-and-reset. Second, the linear scaling is robust against deviations from the effective two-level structure of the optimal Hamiltonian. Additionally, this robustness extends to cases of initial ignorance about the temperature. Thus, in global estimation problems, the linear scaling remains intact even without adaptive strategies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Covariant currents and a thermodynamic uncertainty relation on curved manifolds

A framework for defining stochastic currents associated with diffusion processes on curved Riemannian manifolds is presented. This is achieved by introducing an overdamped Stratonovich-Langevin equation that remains fully covariant under non-linear transformations of state variables. The approach leads to a covariant extension of the thermodynamic uncertainty relation, describing a trade-off between the total entropy production rate and thermodynamic precision associated with short-time currents in curved spaces and arbitrary coordinate systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Curvature of Gaussian quantum states

The space of quantum states can be endowed with a metric structure using the second order derivatives of the relative entropy, giving rise to the so-called Kubo-Mori-Bogoliubov inner product. We explore its geometric properties on the submanifold of faithful, zero-displacement Gaussian states parameterised by their covariance matrices, deriving expressions for the geodesic equations, curvature tensors and scalar curvature. Our analysis suggests that the curvature of the manifold is strictly monotonic with respect to the von Neumann entropy, and thus can be interpreted as a measure of state uncertainty. This provides supporting evidence for the Petz conjecture in continuous variable systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Generalised linear response theory for the full quantum work statistics

We consider a quantum system driven out of equilibrium via a small Hamiltonian perturbation. Building on the paradigmatic framework of linear response theory (LRT), we derive an expression for the full generating function of the dissipated work. Remarkably, we find that all information about the distribution can be encoded in a single quantity, the standard relaxation function in LRT, thus opening up new ways to use phenomenological models to study non-equilibrium fluctuations in complex quantum systems. Our results establish a number of refined quantum thermodynamic constraints on the work statistics that apply to regimes of perturbative but arbitrarily fast protocols, and do not rely on assumptions such as slow driving or weak coupling. Finally, our approach uncovers a distinctly quantum signature in the work statistics that originates from underlying zero-point energy fluctuations. This causes an increased dispersion of the probability distribution at short driving times, a feature that can be probed in efforts to witness non-classical effects in quantum thermodynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Joint statistics of work and entropy production along quantum trajectories

In thermodynamics, entropy production and work quantify irreversibility and the consumption of useful energy, respectively, when a system is driven out of equilibrium. For quantum systems, these quantities can be identified at the stochastic level by unravelling the system's evolution in terms of quantum jump trajectories. We here derive a general formula for computing the joint statistics of work and entropy production in Markovian driven quantum systems, whose instantaneous steady-states are of Gibbs form. If the driven system remains close to the instantaneous Gibbs state at all times, we show that the corresponding two-variable cumulant generating function implies a joint detailed fluctuation theorem so long as detailed balance is satisfied. As a corollary, we derive a modified fluctuation-dissipation relation (FDR) for the entropy production alone, applicable to transitions between arbitrary steady-states, and for systems that violate detailed balance. This FDR contains a term arising from genuinely quantum fluctuations, and extends an analogous relation from classical thermodynamics to the quantum regime.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Thermodynamic uncertainty relation in slowly driven quantum heat engines

Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations express a trade-off between precision, defined as the noise-to-signal ratio of a generic current, and the amount of associated entropy production. These results have deep consequences for autonomous heat engines operating at steady-state, imposing an upper bound for their efficiency in terms of the power yield and its fluctuations. In the present manuscript we analyse a different class of heat engines, namely those which are operating in the periodic slow-driving regime. We show that an alternative TUR is satisfied, which is less restrictive than that of steady-state engines: it allows for engines that produce finite power, with small power fluctuations, to operate close to the Carnot efficiency. The bound further incorporates the effect of quantum fluctuations, which reduces engine efficiency relative to the average power and reliability. We finally illustrate our findings in the experimentally relevant model of a single-ion heat engine.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Energy measurements remain thermometrically optimal beyond weak coupling

We develop a general perturbative theory of finite-coupling quantum thermometry up to second order in probe-sample interaction. By assumption, the probe and sample are in thermal equilibrium, so the probe is described by the mean-force Gibbs state. We prove that the ultimate thermometric precision can be achieved - to second order in the coupling - solely by means of local energy measurements on the probe. Hence, seeking to extract temperature information from coherences or devising adaptive schemes confers no practical advantage in this regime. Additionally, we provide a closed-form expression for the quantum Fisher information, which captures the probe's sensitivity to temperature variations. Finally, we benchmark and illustrate the ease of use of our formulas with two simple examples. Our formalism makes no assumptions about separation of dynamical timescales or the nature of either the probe or the sample. Therefore, by providing analytical insight into both the thermal sensitivity and the optimal measurement for achieving it, our results pave the way for quantum thermometry in setups where finite-coupling effects cannot be ignored.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Bypassing thermalization timescales in temperature estimation using prethermal probes

We introduce prethermal temperature probes for sensitive, fast and robust temperature estimation. While equilibrium thermal probes with a manifold of quasidegenerate excited states have been previously recognized for their maximal sensitivity, they suffer from long thermalization timescales. When considering time as a critical resource in thermometry, it becomes evident that these equilibrium probes fall short of ideal performance. Here, we propose a different paradigm for thermometry, where setups originally suggested for optimal equilibrium thermometry should instead be employed as prethermal probes, by making use of their long-lived quasiequilibrium state. This transient state emerges from the buildup of quantum coherences among quasidegenerate levels. For a class of physically-motivated initial conditions, we find that energy measurements of the prethermal state exhibit a similar sensitivity as the equilibrium state. However, they offer the distinct benefit of orders of magnitude reduction in the time required for the estimation protocol. Upon introducing a figure-of-merit that accounts for the estimation protocol time, prethermal probes surpass the corresponding equilibrium probes in terms of effective thermal sensitivity, opening avenues for rapid thermometry by harnessing the long-lived prethermal states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Optimal control of dissipation and work fluctuations for rapidly driven systems

To achieve efficient and reliable control of microscopic systems one should look for driving protocols that mitigate both the average dissipation and stochastic fluctuations in work. This is especially important in fast driving regimes in which the system is driven far out of equilibrium, potentially creating large amounts of unwanted entropy production. Here we characterise these optimal protocols in rapidly driven classical and quantum systems and prove that they consist of two discontinuous jumps in the full set of control variables. These jumps can be tuned to interpolate between processes with either minimal dissipation or minimal fluctuations, and in some situations allow for simultaneous minimisation. We illustrate our general results with rapidly driven closed quantum systems, classical bit erasure and a dissipative Ising chain driven close to a quantum phase transition.

quant-ph↗