arXiv subjects

Marcus V. S. Bonança

Publications and source records attributed to Marcus V. S. Bonança.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Over forty years of research towards the understanding of Quantum Brownian Motion -- the contributions of A. O. Caldeira

This article presents a brief account of Amir O. Caldeira's contributions to the theory of quantum Brownian motion. Motivated by its importance, we outline the description of Brownian motion in the quantum regime following Caldeira's first works. In this context, we particularly highlight the effect of dissipation on the tunneling rate out of a metastable state. We then journey along the alternative ways to approach quantum Brownian motion developed by Caldeira during his career, which go beyond the so-called Caldeira-Leggett model. We conclude by summarizing some of Caldeira's contributions to contemporary fields such as the theory of quantum decoherence and quantum thermodynamics, that were strongly inspired by his eponymous approach to quantum Brownian motion.

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↗

arXiv2025

Excess work in counterdiabatic driving

Many years have passed since the conception of the quintessential method of shortcut to adiabaticity known as counterdiabatic driving (or transitionless quantum driving). Yet, this method appears to be energetically cost-free and thus continually challenges the task of quantifying the amount of energy it demands to be accomplished. This paper proposes that the energy cost of controlling a closed quantum system using the counterdiabatic method can also be assessed using the instantaneous excess work during the process and related quantities, as the time-averaged excess work. Starting from the Mandelstam-Tamm bound for driven dynamics, we have shown that the speed-up of counterdiabatic driving is linked with the spreading of energy between the eigenstates of the total Hamiltonian, which is necessarily accompanied by transitions between these eigenstates. Nonetheless, although excess work can be used to quantify energetically these transitions, it is well known that the excess work is zero throughout the entire process under counterdiabatic driving. To recover the excess work as an energetic cost quantifier for counterdiabatic driving, we will propose a different interpretation of the parameters of the counterdiabatic Hamiltonian, leading to an excess work different from zero. We have illustrated our findings with the Landau-Zener model.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Correcting noisy quantum gates with shortcuts to adiabaticity

Unitary quantum gates constitute the building blocks of Quantum Computing in the circuit paradigm. In this work, we engineer a locally driven two-qubit Hamiltonian whose instantaneous ground-state dynamics generates the controlled-NOT (CNOT) quantum gate. In practice, quantum gates have to be implemented in finite-time, hence non-adiabatic and external noise effects debilitate gate fidelities. Here, we show that counterdiabatic control can restore gate performance with near perfect fidelities even in open quantum systems subject to decoherence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Emergence of $X$ states in a quantum impurity model

In the present work, we demonstrate the emergence of $X$ states in the long-time response of a locally perturbed many-body quantum impurity model. The emergence of the double-qubit state is heralded by the lack of decay of the response function as well as the out-of-time order correlator, signifying the trapping of excitations and hence information in edge modes. Surprisingly, after carrying out a quantum information theory characterization, we show that such states exhibit genuine quantum correlations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Nano-welding of quantum spin-$1/2$ chains at minimal dissipation

We consider the optimal control of switching on a coupling term between two quantum many-body systems. Specifically, we (i) quantify the energetic cost of establishing a weak junction between two quantum spin-$1/2$ chains in finite time $τ$ and (ii) identify the energetically optimal protocol to realize it. For linear driving protocols, we find that for long times the excess (irreversible) work scales as $τ^{-η}$, where $η=1, 2$ or a nonuniversal number depending on the phase of the chains. Interestingly, increasing a $J_z$ anisotropy in the chains suppresses the excess work thus promoting quasi-adiabaticity. The general optimal control problem is solved, employing a Chebyshev ansatz. We find that the optimal control protocol is intimately sensitive to the chain phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Failure of the geometric approach prediction of excess work scaling for open and isolated quantum systems

The task of finding optimal protocols that minimize the energetic cost of thermodynamic processes of long yet finite duration $τ$ is a pressing one. We approach this problem here in a rigorous and systematic fashion by means of the adiabatic perturbation theory of closed Hamiltonian quantum systems. Our main finding is a $1/τ^2$ scaling of the excess work for large $τ$ in gapped systems. This result is at odds with the $1/τ$ prediction of the geometric approach to optimization, which is predicated on the slow evolution of open systems close to canonical equilibrium. In contrast, our approach does not lead to an obvious geometric interpretation. Furthermore, as the thermodynamic work does not depend on how an isolated quantum system is split into a system of interest and its environment, our results imply the failure of the geometric approach prediction even for open systems. Additionally, we provide alternative optimization procedures, both for slowly-varying processes described by adiabatic perturbation theory and for weakly-varying processes described by linear response theory. Our findings are benchmarked and confirmed through the application to the driven transverse-field Ising chain.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Shortcuts to thermodynamic quasistaticity

The operation of near-term quantum technologies requires the development of feasible, implementable, and robust strategies of controlling complex many body systems. To this end, a variety of techniques, so-called "shortcuts to adiabaticty", have been developed. Many of these shortcuts have already been demonstrated to be powerful and implementable in distinct scenarios. Yet, it is often also desirable to have additional, approximate strategies available, that are applicable to a large class of systems. In this work, we hence take inspiration from thermodynamics and propose to focus on the macrostate, rather than the microstate. Adiabatic dynamics can then be identified as such processes that preserve the equation of state, and systematic corrections are obtained from adiabatic perturbation theory. We demonstrate this approach by improving upon fast quasiadiabatic driving, and by applying the method to the quantum Ising chain in the transverse field.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Optimal finite-time processes in weakly driven overdamped Brownian motion

The complete physical understanding of the optimization of the thermodynamic work still is an important open problem in stochastic thermodynamics. We address this issue using the Hamiltonian approach of linear response theory in finite time and weak processes. We derive the Euler-Lagrange equation associated and discuss its main features, illustrating them using the paradigmatic example of driven Brownian motion in overdamped regime. We show that the optimal protocols obtained either coincide, in the appropriate limit, with the exact solutions by stochastic thermodynamics or can be even identical to them, presenting the well-known jumps. However, our approach reveals that jumps at the extremities of the process are a good optimization strategy in the regime of fast but weak processes for any driven system. Additionally, we show that fast-but-weak optimal protocols are time-reversal symmetric, a property that has until now remained hidden in the exact solutions far from equilibrium.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Performance of optimal linear-response processes in driven Brownian motion far from equilibrium

Considering the paradigmatic driven Brownian motion, we perform extensive numerical analysis on the performance of optimal linear-response processes far from equilibrium. We focus on the overdamped regime where exact optimal processes are known analytically, and most experiments operate. This allows us to compare the optimal processes obtained in linear response and address their relevance to experiments, using realistic parameter values from experiments with optical tweezers. Our results help assess the accuracy of perturbative methods in calculating the irreversible work for cases where an exact solution does not exist. For that, we present a performance metric comparing the approximate optimal solution to the exact one. Our main result is that optimal linear-response processes can perform surprisingly well, even far from where they were expected.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Assessing the performance of quantum annealing with nonlinear driving

Current generation quantum annealers have already proven to be successful problem-solvers. Yet, quantum annealing is still very much in its infancy, with suboptimal applicability. For instance, to date it is still an open question which annealing protocol causes the fewest diabatic excitations for a given eigenspectrum, and even whether there is a universally optimal strategy. Therefore, in this paper, we report analytical and numerical studies of the diabatic excitations arising from nonlinear protocols applied to the transverse field Ising chain, the exactly solvable model that serves as a quantum annealing playground. Our analysis focuses on several driving schemes that inhibit or facilitate the dynamic phases discussed in a previous work. Rather remarkably, we find that the paradigmatic Kibble-Zurek behavior can be suppressed with ``pauses'' in the evolution, both for crossing and for stopping at the quantum critical point of the system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

The three phases of quantum annealing: fast, slow, and very slow

Currently, existing quantum annealers have proven themselves as viable technology for the first practical applications in the noisy-intermediate-scale-quantum era. However, to fully exploit their capabilities, a comprehensive characterization of their finite-time excitations is instrumental. To this end, we develop a phase diagram for driven Ising chains, from which the scaling behavior of the excess work can be read off as a function of process duration and system size. "Fast" processes are well described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism; "slow" processes are governed by effective Landau-Zener dynamics; and "very slow" processes can be approximated with adiabatic perturbation theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Kibble-Zurek scaling from linear response theory

While quantum phase transitions share many characteristics with thermodynamic phase transitions, they are also markedly different as they occur at zero temperature. Hence, it is not immediately clear whether tools and frameworks that capture the properties of thermodynamic phase transitions also apply in the quantum case. Concerning the crossing of thermodynamic critical points and describing its non-equilibrium dynamics, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and linear response theory have been demonstrated to be among the very successful approaches. In the present work, we show that these two approaches are consistent also in the description of quantum phase transitions, and that linear response theory can even inform arguments of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. In particular, we show that the relaxation time provided by linear response theory gives a rigorous argument for why to identify the "gap" as a relaxation rate, and we verify that the excess work computed from linear response theory exhibits Kibble-Zurek scaling.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Fluctuation theorem for irreversible entropy production in electrical conduction

Linear, irreversible thermodynamics predicts that the entropy production rate can become negative. We demonstrate this prediction for metals under AC-driving whose conductivity is well-described by the Drude-Sommerfeld model. We then show that these negative rates are fully compatible with stochastic thermodynamics, namely, that the entropy production does fulfill a fluctuation theorem. The analysis is concluded with the observation that the stochastic entropy production as defined by the surprisal or ignorance of the Shannon information does not agree with the phenomenological approach.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Series expansion of the excess work using nonlinear response theory

The calculation of observable averages in non-equilibrium regimes is one of the most important problems in statistical physics. Using the Hamiltonian approach of nonlinear response theory, we obtain a series expansion of the average excess work and illustrate it with specific examples of thermally isolated systems. We report the emergence of non-vanishing contributions for large switching times when the system is subjected to strong driving. The problem is solved by using an adapted multiple-scale method to suppress these secular terms. Our paradigmatic examples show how the method is implemented generating a truncated series that obeys the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Negative entropy production rates in Drude-Sommerfeld metals

It is a commonly accepted creed that in typical situations the rate of entropy production is non-negative. We show that this assertion is not entirely correct if a time-dependent, external perturbation is not compensated by a rapid enough decay of the response function. This is demonstrated for three variants of the Drude model to describe electrical conduction in noble metals, namely the classical free electron gas, the Drude-Sommerfeld model, and the Extended Drude-Sommerfeld model. The analysis is concluded with a discussion of potential experimental verifications and ramifications of negative entropy production rates.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Thermodynamic control -- an old paradigm with new applications

Tremendous research efforts have been invested in exploring and designing so-called shortcuts to adiabaticity. These are finite-time processes that produce the same final states that would result from infinitely slow driving. Most of these techniques rely on auxiliary fields and quantum control techniques, which makes them rather costly to implement. In this Perspective we outline an alternative paradigm for optimal control that has proven powerful in a wide variety of situations ranging from heat engines over chemical reactions to quantum dynamics -- thermodynamic control. Focusing on only a few, selected milestones we seek to provide a pedagogical entry point into this powerful and versatile framework.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Verification of finite bath fluctuation theorem for a non-ergodic system

The analysis of fluctuations generated by a thermal reservoir has produced many results throughout the history of science, ranging from the verification of the atomic hypothesis, running through critical phenomena to the most recent advances in the description of non-equilibrium thermodynamic processes. Motivated by recent theoretical and experimental works, we analyze the non-equilibrium and equilibrium fluctuations caused by a finite and chaotic heat bath in a simple system of interest. Finite bath and system of interest give rise to a non-ergodic composite system when interacting with each other. We have characterized the equilibrium distribution induced by the finite bath and numerically verified the finite-bath fluctuation theorem. We have also verified the convergence of our results to Crooks' fluctuation theorem as the number of degrees of freedom of the finite bath increases while the non-ergodic character remains.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗