On the First Law of Thermodynamics in Time-Dependent Open Quantum Systems

Abstract: How to rigorously define thermodynamic quantities such as heat, work, and internal energy in open quantum systems driven far from equilibrium remains a significant open question in quantum thermodynamics. Heat is a quantity whose fundamental definition applies only to processes in systems infinitesimally perturbed from equilibrium, and as such, must be accounted for carefully in strongly-driven systems. A key insight from Mesoscopics is that infinitely far from the local driving and coupling of an open quantum system, reservoirs are indeed only infinitesimally perturbed, thereby allowing the heat dissipated to be defined. The resulting partition of the entropy necessitates a Hilbert-space partition of the energetics, leading to an unambiguous operator for the internal energy of an interacting time-dependent open quantum system. Fully general expressions for the heat current and the power delivered by various agents to the system are derived using the formalism of nonequilibrium Green's functions, establishing an experimentally meaningful and quantum mechanically consistent division of the energy of the system under consideration into Heat flowing out of and Work done on the system. The spatio-temporal distribution of internal energy in a strongly-driven open quantum system is also analyzed. This formalism is applied to analyze the thermodynamic performance of a model quantum machine: a driven two-level quantum system strongly coupled to two metallic reservoirs, which can operate in several configurations--as a chemical pump/engine or a heat pump/engine.