arXiv subjects

Vasco Cavina

Publications and source records attributed to Vasco Cavina.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The entropic coherence is a necessary resource for non-energy preserving gates

We consider the task of implementing non-energy preserving gates (NEPG) on a finite-dimensional system S via an energy-preserving interaction with an external battery B. We prove that the entropic coherence of the battery (an instance of the relative entropy of resource) is a necessary resource for this task, and find a lower bound on its minimum amount that has to be present in the battery to be able to implement NEPGs with a fixed desired precision. An immediate corollary is that any finite-dimensional battery is doomed to a certain minimal error in the gate implementation task. Moreover, under assumptions on the density of energy levels in the battery Hamiltonian, our main results imply additional lower bounds on the minimal amount of energy and quantum Fisher information required to implement any gate. We show that these bounds can be stronger than the universal bounds previously established in the literature.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Dynamical phase transitions for single particles in the semiclassical and weak noise limits

We present a unifying description of dynamical phase transitions in the unitary evolution of an isolated quantum particle and the dissipative relaxation of a classical Brownian particle, based on a dynamical generat- ing function. In the semiclassical and weak-noise limits, Fisher zeros of this function condense in the complex- time plane and reach the corresponding physical axes, producing dynamical phase transitions through a competition between return trajectories. This establishes a direct connection between quantum and classical (finite-time) dynamical phase transitions, where the semiclassical limit plays the role of the thermodynamic limit. In particular, the established link naturally provides a classical version of the Loschmidt amplitude and shows how dynamical quantum phase transitions, typically associated with isolated many-body systems, can arise in a single-particle quantum system. The dynamical phases are distinguished by a unifying, trajectory- based order parameter, realized as a classical correlation function and a sequential quantum weak value.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Non-Hermitian entropy production from fluctuation theorems

We develop a first-principles thermodynamic framework for non-Hermitian dynamics based on a post-selected version of the fluctuation theorem. This allows us to identify a quantity that remains positive throughout the non-Hermitian evolution and can be interpreted as the entropy production of the post-selected dynamics. We relate this quantity to previously proposed notions of non-Hermitian entropy and derive an associated second law. Furthermore, we establish a connection with information-theoretic quantities, in particular the Petz-Rényi divergences, and leverage this connection to derive upper and lower bounds. Finally, we decompose the entropy production into incoherent and coherent contributions, identifying distinctive features of the coherent term in the vicinity of exceptional points. We illustrate our results using a paradigmatic model of non-Hermitian evolution based on a two-level system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Controlling the non-Markovianity of quantum Brownian motion

We analyze the exact dynamics of a generalized quantum Brownian motion model, employing Gaussian master equation methods. We demonstrate that, by modulating the relative weights of specific interaction channels, we can control the degree of non-Markovianity of the system, and induce a transition from non-Markovian to Markovian regimes. The non-Markovianity of the evolution is formally characterized by leveraging the Gorini--Kossakowski--Sudarshan--Lindblad theorem and by employing quantitative measures of information backflow. Finally, we clarify the physical mechanism behind the phenomenology of this model, thereby providing a systematic platform for environment engineering through the strategic tuning of dissipation channels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum thermodynamics of the Caldeira-Leggett model with non-equilibrium Gaussian reservoirs

We introduce a non-equilibrium version of the Caldeira-Leggett model in which a quantum particle is strongly coupled to a set of engineered reservoirs. The reservoirs are composed by collections of squeezed and displaced thermal modes, in contrast to the standard case in which the modes are assumed to be at equilibrium. The model proves to be very versatile. Strongly displaced/squeezed reservoirs can be used to generate an effective time dependence in the system Hamiltonian and can be identified as sources of pure work. In the case of squeezing, the time dependence is stochastic and breaks the fluctuation-dissipation relation, this can be reconciled with the second law of thermodynamics by correctly accounting for the energy used to generate the initial non-equilibrium conditions. To go beyond the average description and compute the full heat statistics, we treat squeezing and displacement as generalized Hamiltonians on a modified Keldysh contour. As an application of this technique, we show the quantum-classical correspondence between the heat statistics in the non-equilibrium Caldeira-Leggett model and the statistics of a classical Langevin particle under the action of squeezed and displaced colored noises. Finally, we discuss thermodynamic symmetries of the heat generating function, proving a fluctuation theorem for the energy balance and showing that the conservation of energy at the trajectory level emerges in the classical limit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Generalized multilevel amplitude damping channels and their thermodynamic performances

We introduce a new class of quantum channels, the Generalized Multilevel Amplitude Damping (GMAD) channels, to model noise and decoherence effects in a qudit coupled to a thermal environment. The degradation of energetic resources under GMADs is investigated by evaluating work functionals and ergotropic capacitances, with particular attention to the coherent and incoherent contributions to ergotropy, for which we introduce new quantifiers. Our analysis sheds light on how to optimally prepare a qudit in a thermal environment in order to preserve its value from the perspective of work extraction, and reveals several counterintuitive phenomena: the ergotropic capacitance of a GMAD channel is not monotonic in the temperature of the environment; moreover, iterating the map can lead to crossings between ergotropic functionals at different temperatures, indicating the presence of a Markovian Mpemba effect.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exact requirements for battery-assisted qubit gates

We consider the implementation of a unitary gate on a qubit system S via a global energy-preserving operation acting on S and an auxiliary system B that can be seen as a battery. We derive a simple, asymptotically exact expression for the implementation error as a function of the battery state, which we refer to as the it Unitary Defect. Remarkably, this quantity is independent of the specific gate being implemented, highlighting a universal property of the battery itself. We show that minimizing the unitary defect, under given physical constraints on the battery state, is mathematically equivalent to solving a Lagrangian optimization problem, often corresponding to finding the ground state of a one-dimensional quantum system. Using this mapping, we identify optimal battery states that achieve the highest precision under constraints on energy, squared energy, number of levels and Quantum Fisher Information. Overall, our results provide an efficient method for establishing bounds on the physical requirements needed to implement a unitary gate via energy-preserving operations and for determining the corresponding optimal protocols.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exact quantum transport in non-Markovian open Gaussian systems

We build an exact framework to evaluate heat, energy, and particle transport between Gaussian reservoirs mediated by a quadratic quantum system. By combining full counting statistics with newly developed non-Markovian master equation approaches, we introduce an effective master equation whose solution can be used to generate arbitrary moments of the heat statistics for any number of reservoirs. This theory applies equally to fermionic and bosonic systems, holds at arbitrarily strong coupling, and resolves out-of-equilibrium transient dynamics determined by the system's initial state. In the steady-state, weak-coupling limit, we recover results analogous to those of the well-known Landauer-Büttiker formalism. We conclude our discussion by demonstrating an application of the method to a prototypical fermionic system. Our results uncover a regime of transient negative heat conductance contingent upon the initial system preparation, providing a clear signature of non-trivial out-of-equilibrium dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exact non-Markovian master equations: a generalized derivation for Gaussian systems

We derive an exact master equation that captures the dynamics of a quadratic quantum system linearly coupled to a Gaussian environment of the same statistics: the Gaussian Master Equation (GME). Unlike previous approaches, our formulation applies universally to both bosonic and fermionic setups, and remains valid even in the presence of initial system-environment correlations, allowing for the exact computation of the system's reduced density matrix across all parameter regimes. Remarkably, the GME shares the same operatorial structure as the Redfield equation and depends on a single kernel - a dressed environment correlation function accounting for all virtual interactions between the system and the environment. This simple structure grants a clear physical interpretation and makes the GME easy to simulate numerically, as we show by applying it to an open system based on two fermions coupled via superconductive pairing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Unifying quantum stochastic methods using Wick's theorem on the Keldysh contour

We present a method, based on the Keldysh formalism, for deriving stochastic master equations that describe the non-Markovian dynamics of a quantum system coupled to a Gaussian environment. This approach yields a compact expression for the system's propagator, which we show to be equivalent to existing formulations, such as the stochastic von Neumann equation (SVNE). A key advantage of our method is its generality: It can be extended to describe any open-system evolution defined on a suitable ordering contour. As a result, we adapt it to derive generalized versions of the SVNE that account for initial system-environment correlations, as well as stochastic equations that incorporate information about the statistics of energy flows in the environment. The insights offered by our technique further allow us to examine the nature of the noise processes appearing in the SVNE. We prove that its solution can be expressed in terms of a single physical noise, without any loss of information. Finally, we propose a semiclassical scenario in which this noise can be interpreted as arising from an initial measurement process on the environment.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Extracting and charging energy into almost unknown quantum states

In this work, we investigate the amount of energy that can be extracted or charged through unitary operations when only minimal information about the state is known. Assuming knowledge of only the mean energy of the state, we start by developing optimal upper bounds for the work that can be unitarily extracted or charged in this scenario. In deriving these upper bounds, we provide a complete characterization of the minimum ergotropy and anti-ergotropy for density matrices with fixed average energy, showing that the minimum states are always passive or antipassive and the problem of finding them can be mapped to a simple linear programming algorithm. Furthermore, we show that these lower bounds directly translate into upper bounds for the energy-constrained coherent ergotropy and anti-ergotropy of a state. We continue by illustrating scenarios in which these bounds can be saturated: a simple unitary protocol is shown to saturate the bounds for relevant classes of Hamiltonians, while having access to decoherence or randomness as resources, the saturation is guaranteed for all Hamiltonians. Finally, by taking a qutrit as an example, we show and compare the performances of the various protocols identified.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Extracting energy via bosonic Gaussian operations

Quantum thermodynamics is often formulated as a theory with constrained access to operations and resources. In this manuscript, we find a closed formula for the Gaussian ergotropy, i.e. the maximum energy that can be extracted from bosonic systems governed by quadratic Hamiltonians by means of Gaussian unitaries only. This formula resembles the well-known eigenvalue-based expression for the standard ergotropy, but is instead formulated using symplectic eigenvalues. We further prove that the Gaussian ergotropy is additive, indicating that the multiple-copy scenario does not benefit from Gaussian entangling operations. Extending our analysis to the relationship between ergotropic and entropic functions, we establish bounds linking entropic measures of Gaussianity to extractable work. Finally, we generalise our framework to open systems by studying the optimal state preparation that minimises the energy output in a Gaussian channel.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Single-atom dissipation and dephasing in Dicke and Tavis-Cummings quantum batteries

We study the influence of single-atom dissipation and dephasing noise on the performance of Dicke and Tavis-Cummings quantum batteries, where the electromagnetic field of the cavity hosting the system acts as a charger. For these models a genuine charging process can only occur in the transient regime. Indeed, unless the interaction with the environment is cut off, the asymptotic energy of the battery is solely determined by the environment and does not depend on the initial energy of the electromagnetic field. We numerically estimate the fundamental figures of merit for the model, including the time at which the battery reaches its maximum ergotropy, the average energy, and the energy that needs to be used to switch the battery-charger interaction on and off. Depending on the scaling of the coupling between the battery and the charger, we show that the model can still exhibit a subextensive charging time. However, for the Dicke battery, this effect comes with a higher cost when switching the battery-charger interaction on and off. We also show that as the number of battery constituents increases, both the Dicke and Tavis-Cummings models become asymptotically free, meaning the amount of energy that is not unitarily extractable becomes negligible. We obtain this result numerically and demonstrate analytically that it is a consequence of the symmetry under permutation of the model. Finally, we perform simulations for different values of the detuning, showing that the optimal regime for the Dicke battery is off-resonance, in contrast to what is observed in the Tavis-Cummings case.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Symmetry shapes thermodynamics of macroscopic quantum systems

We derive a systematic approach to the thermodynamics of quantum systems based on the underlying symmetry groups. We show that the entropy of a system can be described in terms of group-theoretical quantities that are largely independent of the details of its density matrix. We apply our technique to generic $N$ identical interacting $d$-level quantum systems. Using permutation invariance, we find that, for large $N$, entropy displays a universal large deviation behavior with a rate function $s(\boldsymbol{x})$ that is completely independent of the microscopic details of the model, but depends only on the size of the irreducible representations of the permutation group $\text{S}_N$. In turn, the partition function is shown to satisfy a large deviation principle with a free energy $f(\boldsymbol{x})=e(\boldsymbol{x})-β^{-1}s(\boldsymbol{x})$, where $e(\boldsymbol{x})$ is a rate function that only depends on the ground state energy of particular subspaces determined by group representation theory. We apply our theory to the transverse-field Curie-Weiss model, a minimal model of phase transition exhibiting an interplay of thermal and quantum fluctuations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Methods and Conversations in (Post)Modern Thermodynamics

Lecture notes after the doctoral school (Post)Modern Thermodynamics held at the University of Luxembourg, December 2022, 5-7, covering and advancing continuous-time Markov chains, network theory, stochastic thermodynamics, large deviations, deterministic and stochastic chemical reaction networks, metastability, martingales, quantum thermodynamics, and foundational issues.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

A time-dependent regularization of the Redfield equation

We introduce a new regularization of the Redfield equation based on a replacement of the Kossakowski matrix with its closest positive semidefinite neighbor. Unlike most of the existing approaches, this procedure is capable of retaining the time dependence of the Kossakowski matrix, leading to a completely positive divisible quantum process. Using the dynamics of an exactly-solvable three-level open system as a reference, we show that our approach performs better during the transient evolution, if compared to other approaches like the partial secular master equation or the universal Lindblad equation. To make the comparison between different regularization schemes independent from the initial states, we introduce a new quantitative approach based on the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

A convenient Keldysh contour for thermodynamically consistent perturbative and semiclassical expansions

The work fluctuation theorem (FT) is a symmetry connecting the moment generating functions (MGFs) of the work extracted in a given process and in its time-reversed counterpart. We show that, equivalently, the FT for work in isolated quantum systems can be expressed as an invariance property of a modified Keldysh contour. Modified contours can be used as starting points of perturbative and path integral approaches to quantum thermodynamics, as recently pointed out in the literature. After reviewing the derivation of the contour-based perturbation theory, we use the symmetry of the modified contour to show that the theory satisfies the FT at every order. Furthermore, we extend textbook diagrammatic techniques to the computation of work MGFs, showing that the contributions of the different Feynman diagrams can be added to obtain a general expression of the work statistics in terms of a sum of independent rescaled Poisson processes. In this context, the FT takes the form of a detailed balance condition linking every Feynman diagram with its time-reversed variant. In the second part, we study path integral approaches to the calculation of the MGF, and discuss how the arbitrariness in the choice of the contour impacts the final form of the path integral action. In particular, we show how using a symmetrized contour makes it possible to easily generalize the Keldysh rotation in the context of work statistics, a procedure paving the way to a semiclassical expansion of the work MGF. Furthermore, we use our results to discuss a generalization of the detailed balance conditions at the level of the quantum trajectories.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Optimal Control Methods for Quantum Batteries

We investigate the optimal charging processes for several models of quantum batteries, finding how to maximize the energy stored in a given battery with a finite-time modulation of a set of external fields. We approach the problem using advanced tools of optimal control theory, highlighting the universality of some features of the optimal solutions, for instance the emergence of the well-known Bang-Bang behavior of the time-dependent external fields. The technique presented here is general, and we apply it to specific cases in which the energy is both pumped into the battery by external forces (direct charging) or transferred into it from an external charger (mediated charging). In this article we focus on particular systems that consist of coupled qubits and harmonic oscillators, for which the optimal charging problem can be explicitly solved using a combined analytical-numerical approach based on our optimal control techniques. However, our approach can be applied to more complex setups, thus fostering the study of many-body effects in the charging process.

quant-ph↗