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Varinder Singh

Publications and source records attributed to Varinder Singh.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Even Odd Splitting of the Gaussian Quantum Fisher Information: From Symplectic Geometry to Metrology

We introduce a canonical decomposition of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for centered multimode Gaussian states into two additive pieces: an even part that captures changes in the symplectic spectrum and an odd part associated with correlation-generating dynamics. On the pure-state manifold, the even contribution vanishes identically, while the odd contribution coincides with the QFI derived from the natural metric on the Siegel upper half-space, revealing a direct geometric underpinning of pure-Gaussian metrology. This also provides a link between the graphical representation of pure Gaussian states and an explicit expression for the QFI in terms of graphical parameters. For evolutions completely generated by passive Gaussian unitaries (orthogonal symplectics), the odd QFI vanishes, while thermometric parameters contribute purely to the even sector with a simple spectral form; we also derive a state-dependent lower bound on the even QFI in terms of the purity-change rate. We extend the construction to the full QFI matrix, obtaining an additive even odd sector decomposition that clarifies when cross-parameter information vanishes. Applications to unitary sensing (beam splitter versus two-mode squeezing) and to Gaussian channels (loss and phase-insensitive amplification), including joint phase loss estimation, demonstrate how the decomposition cleanly separates resources associated with spectrum versus correlations. The framework supplies practical design rules for continuous-variable sensors and provides a geometric lens for benchmarking probes and channels in Gaussian quantum metrology.

quant-ph

Relativistic Quantum Otto Engine: Generalized efficiency bounds and frictional effects

This work investigates a relativistic quantum Otto engine with a harmonic oscillator as its working medium, analyzing how relativistic motion and nonadiabatic driving affect its performance and efficiency bounds. In the adiabatic regime, a closed-form analytical expression is derived for the generalized Carnot efficiency, which incorporates the effects of relativistic motion and reduces to the standard Carnot efficiency in the nonrelativistic limit. For nonadiabatic driving, we consider sudden compression and expansion work strokes and show that the maximum efficiency achievable by the engine is limited to 1/2, even in the ultra-relativistic limit. Going one step further, we also derive an analytical expression for the efficiency bound in the sudden-switch protocol, which can be regarded as the nonadiabatic counterpart of the generalized Carnot efficiency. Together, these results provide analytical bounds for the efficiency of relativistic quantum heat engines and constitute the first systematic study of the interplay between relativistic motion and frictional effects arising from nonadiabatic driving.

quant-ph

Violation of kinetic uncertainty relation in maser heat engines: Role of spontaneous emission

We investigate the kinetic uncertainty relation (KUR)-a fundamental trade-off between dynamical activity and current fluctuations-in two configurations of a maser heat engine. We find that KUR violations arise only in one model. This asymmetry originates from spontaneous emission, which breaks the structural symmetry between the configurations and modifies their coherence dynamics. While we analyze several contributing factors-including statistical signatures such as the Fano factor and the ratio of dynamical activity to current-our results show that the decisive mechanism is the slower decoherence in one configuration, which enables quantum violations of the classical steady-state KUR bound. By contrast, the faster coherence decay in the other configuration suppresses such violations, driving it closer to classical behavior. These findings highlight the critical role of decoherence mechanisms in determining fundamental thermodynamic bounds and provide insights for the design of quantum heat engines in which the control of decoherence is central to suppressing fluctuations and enhancing reliable performance.

quant-ph

Relativistic Quantum Thermal Machine: Harnessing Relativistic Effects to Surpass Carnot Efficiency

We investigate a three-level maser quantum thermal machine in which the system-reservoir interaction is modeled via Unruh-DeWitt type coupling, with one or both reservoirs undergoing relativistic motion relative to the working medium. Motion induces Doppler reshaping of the reservoir spectra, modifying energy-exchange rates and enabling operation beyond the Carnot efficiency at finite power. We numerically analyze families of efficiency-power curves and extract the analytic form of a generalized Carnot bound, which recovers the Carnot limit. In addition, Doppler reshaping alters the boundaries between heat-engine and refrigerator operation, making it possible to extract positive work even in the absence of a temperature gradient. These findings establish relativistic motion as a genuine thermodynamic resource.

quant-ph

Quantum Thermodynamics on a limit cycle

We consider a periodic quantum clock based on cooperative resonance fluorescence at zero temperature. In the quantum case, this system has an exact steady state and the limit cycle appears in conditional quantum dynamics under homodyne detection. We show that the intrinsic quantum phase diffusion on the limit cycle leads to fluctuations in the period. By simulating the stochastic master equation for homodyne detection, we extract the statistical properties of the clock period. We show that the precision of the clock satisfies the quantum-thermodynamic kinetic uncertainty relations. As energy dissipation increases, the clock quality improves, fully validating, in a quantum stochastic system, the link between energy dissipation and clock precision.

quant-ph

Asymmetric Quantum Harmonic Otto Engine Under Hot Squeezed Thermal Reservoir

We study a quantum harmonic Otto engine under a hot squeezed thermal reservoir with asymmetry between the two adiabatic branches introduced by considering different speeds of the driving protocols. In the first configuration, the driving protocol for the expansion stroke is sudden-switch in nature and compression stroke is driven adiabatically, while the second configuration deals with the converse situation. In both cases, we obtain analytic expressions for the upper bound on efficiency and efficiency at optimal work output, which reveals a significant difference between the two configurations. Additionally, we find that the maximum achievable efficiency in sudden expansion case is 1/2 only while it approaches unity for the sudden compression stroke. Further, we study the effect of increasing degree of squeezing on the efficiency and work output of the engine and indicate the optimal operational regime for both configurations under consideration. Finally, by studying the full phase-diagram of the Otto cycle we observe that the operational region of the engine mode grows with increasing squeezing at the expense of refrigeration regime.

quant-ph

The asymmetric Otto engine: frictional effects on performance bounds and operational modes

We present a detailed study of an asymmetrically driven quantum Otto engine with a time-dependent harmonic oscillator as its working medium. We obtain analytic expressions for the upper bounds on the efficiency of the engine for two different driving schemes having asymmetry in the expansion and compression work strokes. We show that the Otto cycle under consideration cannot operate as a heat engine in the low-temperature regime. Then, we show that the friction in the expansion stroke is significantly more detrimental to the performance of the engine as compared to the friction in the compression stroke. Further, by comparing the performance of the engine with sudden expansion, sudden compression, and both sudden strokes, we uncover a pattern of connections between the operational points, and we indicate the optimal operation regime for each case. Finally, we analytically characterize the complete phase diagram of the Otto cycle for both driving schemes and highlight the different operational modes of the cycle as a heat engine, refrigerator, accelerator, and heater.

quant-ph

Steady-state Quantum Thermodynamics with Synthetic Negative Temperatures

A bath with a negative temperature is a subject of intense debate in recent times. It raises fundamental questions not only on our understanding of negative temperature of a bath in connection with thermodynamics but also on the possibilities of constructing devices using such baths. In this work, we study steady-state quantum thermodynamics involving baths with negative temperatures. A bath with a negative temperature is created synthetically using two baths of positive temperatures and weakly coupling these with a qutrit system. These baths are then coupled to each other via a working system. At steady-state, the laws of thermodynamics are analyzed. We find that whenever the temperatures of these synthetic baths are identical, there is no heat flow, which reaffirms the zeroth law. There is always a spontaneous heat flow for different temperatures. In particular, heat flows from a bath with a negative temperature to a bath with a positive temperature which, in turn, implies that a bath with a negative temperature is `hotter' than a bath with a positive temperature. This warrants an amendment in the Kelvin-Planck statement of the second law, as suggested in earlier studies. In all these processes, the overall entropy production is positive, as required by the Clausius statement of the second law. We construct continuous heat engines operating between positive and negative temperature baths. These engines yield maximum possible heat-to-work conversion efficiency, that is, unity. We also study the thermodynamic nature of heat from a bath with a negative temperature and find that it is thermodynamic work but with negative entropy.

quant-ph

Lossy Micromaser Battery: Almost Pure States in the Jaynes-Cummings Regime

We consider a micromaser model of a quantum battery, where the battery is a single mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity, charged via repeated interactions with a stream of qubits, all prepared in the same non-equilibrium state, either incoherent or coherent, with the matter-field interaction modeled by the Jaynes-Cummings model. We show that the coherent protocol is superior to the incoherent one, in that an effective pure steady state is achieved for generic values of the model parameters. Finally, we supplement the above collision model with cavity losses, described by a Lindblad master equation. We show that battery performances, in terms of stored energy, charging power, and steady-state purity, are slightly degraded up to moderated dissipation rate. Our results show that micromasers are robust and reliable quantum batteries, thus making them a promising model for experimental implementations.

quant-ph

Thermodynamic uncertainty relation in nondegenerate and degenerate maser heat engines

We investigate the thermodynamic uncertainty relation (TUR), \textit{i.e.} a trade-off between entropy production rate and relative power fluctuations, for nondegenerate three-level and degenerate four-level maser heat engines. In the nondegenerate case, we consider two slightly different configurations of three-level maser heat engine and contrast their degree of violation of standard TUR. In the high-temperature limit, standard TUR relation is always violated for both configurations. We also uncover an invariance of TUR under simultaneous rescaling of the matter-field coupling constant and system-bath coupling constants. For the degenerate four level engine, we study the effects of noise-induced coherence on TUR. We show that depending on the parametric regime of operation, noise-induced coherence can either suppress or enhance the relative power fluctuations.

quant-ph

Performance analysis of quantum harmonic Otto engine and refrigerator under a trade-off figure of merit

We investigate the optimal performance of quantum Otto engine and refrigeration cycles of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator under a trade-off figure of merit for both adiabatic and nonadiabatic (sudden-switch) frequency modulations. For heat engine (refrigerator), the chosen trade-off figure of merit is an objective function defined by the product of efficiency (coefficient of performance) and work output (cooling load), thus representing a compromise between them. We obtain analytical expressions for the efficiency and coefficient of performance of the harmonic Otto cycle for the optimal performance of the thermal machine in various operational regimes. Particularly, in the sudden-switch regime, we discuss the implications of the nonadiabatic driving on the performance of the thermal machine under consideration, and obtain analytic expressions for the maximum achievable efficiency and coefficient of performance of the harmonic Otto thermal machine. Further, by carrying out a detailed comparative analysis of the heat engine operating under the chosen trade-off objective function with one operating at maximum work output, we show that the trade-off objective functions have desirable operation only for the adiabatic driving whereas for the sudden switch operation, the choice of a trade-off objective function does not make much difference as the performance of the engine is dominated by frictional effects.

quant-ph

Micromasers as Quantum Batteries

We show that a micromaser is an excellent model of quantum battery. A highly excited, pure, and effectively steady state of the cavity mode, charged by coherent qubits, can be achieved, also in the ultrastrong coupling regime of field-matter interaction. Stability of these appealing features against loss of coherence of the qubits and the effect of counter-rotating terms in the interaction Hamiltonian are also discussed.

quant-ph

Unified trade-off optimization of quantum harmonic Otto engine and refrigerator

We investigate quantum Otto engine and refrigeration cycles of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator operating under the conditions of maximum $\Omega$-function, a trade-off objective function which represents a compromise between energy benefits and losses for a specific job, for both adiabatic and nonadiabatic (sudden) frequency modulations. We derive analytical expressions for the efficiency and coefficient of performance of the Otto cycle. For the case of adiabatic driving, we point out that in the low-temperature regime, the harmonic Otto engine (refrigerator) can be mapped to Feynman's ratchet and pawl model which is a steady state classical heat engine. For the sudden switch of frequencies, we obtain loop-like behavior of the efficiency-work curve, which is characteristic of irreversible heat engines. Finally, we discuss the behavior of cooling power at maximum $\Omega$-function and indicate the optimal operational point of the refrigerator.

quant-ph

Unified trade-off optimization of a three-level quantum refrigerator

We study the optimal performance of a three-level quantum refrigerator using a trade-off objective function, $\Omega$ function, which represents a compromise between the energy benefits and the energy losses of a thermal device. First, we optimize the performance of our refrigerator by employing a two-parameter optimization scheme and show that the first two-terms in the series expansion of the obtained coefficient of performance (COP) match with those of some classical models of refrigerator. Then, in the high-temperature limit, optimizing with respect to one parameter while constraining the other one, we obtain the lower and upper bounds on the COP for both strong as well as weak (intermediate) matter-field coupling conditions. In the strong matter-field coupling regime, the obtained bounds on the COP exactly match with the bounds already known for some models of classical refrigerators. Further for weak matter-field coupling, we derive some new bounds on the the COP of the refrigerator which lie beyond the range covered by bounds obtained for strong matter-field coupling. Finally, in the parameter regime where both cooling power and $\Omega$ function can be maximized, we compare the cooling power of the quantum refrigerator at maximum $\Omega$ function with the maximum cooling power.

quant-ph

Performance bounds of non-adiabatic quantum harmonic Otto engine and refrigerator under a squeezed thermal reservoir

We analyze the performance of a quantum Otto cycle, employing time-dependent harmonic oscillator as the working fluid undergoing sudden expansion and compression strokes during the adiabatic stages, coupled to a squeezed reservoir. First, we show that the maximum efficiency that our engine can achieve is 1/2 only, which is in contrast with the earlier studies claiming unit efficiency under the effect of squeezed reservoir. Then, we obtain analytic expressions for the upper bound on the efficiency as well as on the coefficient of performance of the Otto cycle. The obtained bounds are independent of the parameters of the system and depends on the reservoir parameters only. Additionally, with hot squeezed thermal bath, we obtain analytic expression for the efficiency at maximum work which satisfies the derived upper bound. Further, in the presence of squeezing in the cold reservoir, we specify an operational regime for the Otto refrigerator otherwise forbidden in the standard case.

quant-ph

Optimal operation of a three-level quantum heat engine and universal nature of efficiency

We present a detailed study of a three-level quantum heat engine operating at maximum efficient power function, a trade-off objective function defined by the product of the efficiency and power output of the engine. First, for near equilibrium conditions, we find general expression for the efficiency and establish universal nature of efficiency at maximum power and maximum efficient power. Then in the high temperature limit, optimizing with respect to one parameter while constraining the other one, we obtain the lower and upper bounds on the efficiency for both strong as well as weak matter-field coupling conditions. Except for the weak matter-field coupling condition, the obtained bounds on the efficiency exactly match with the bounds already known for some models of classical heat engines. Further for weak matter-field coupling, we derive some new bounds on the the efficiency of the the engine which lie beyond the range covered by bounds obtained for strong matter-field coupling. We conclude by comparing the performance of our three-level quantum heat engine in maximum power and maximum efficient power regimes and show that the engine operating at maximum efficient power produces at least $88.89\%$ of the maximum power output while considerably reducing the power loss due to entropy production.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Optimal Performance of a Three-level Quantum Refrigerator

We study the optimal performance of a three-level quantum refrigerator using two different objective functions: cooling power and $\chi$-function. For both cases, we obtain general expressions for the coefficient of performance (COP) and derive its well-known lower and upper bounds for the limiting cases when the ratio of system-bath coupling constants at the hot and cold contacts approaches infinity and zero, respectively. We also show that the cooling power is optimizable only in the local region with respect to one control frequency, while $\chi$-function can be optimized globally with respect to two control frequencies. Additionally, we show that in the low-temperatures regime, our model of refrigerator can be mapped to Feynman's ratchet and pawl model, a classical mesoscopic heat engine. In the parameter regime where both cooling power and $\chi$-function can be optimized, we compare the cooling power of the quantum refrigerator at maximum $\chi$-function with the optimum cooling power.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Three-level laser heat engine at optimal performance with ecological function

Although classical and quantum heat engines work on entirely different fundamental principles, there is an underlying similarity. For instance, the form of efficiency at optimal performance may be similar for both types of engines. In this work, we study a three-level laser quantum heat engine operating at maximum ecological function (EF) which represents a compromise between the power output and the loss of power due to entropy production. We derive analytic expressions for efficiency under the assumptions of strong matter-field coupling and high bath temperatures. Upper and lower bounds on the efficiency exist in case of extreme asymmetric dissipation when the ratio of system-bath coupling constants at the hot and the cold contacts respectively approaches, zero or infinity. These bounds have been established previously for various classical models of Carnot-like engines. We conclude that while the engine produces at least 75\% of the power output as compared with the maximum power conditions, the fractional loss of power is appreciably low in case of the engine operating at maximum EF, thus making this objective function relevant from an environmental point of view.

quant-ph