Abstract
In this work, we investigate the collective role of thermal and quantum fluctuations on non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a quantum system, specifically, the quantum-thermodynamic description of spin-1 nuclei based on the concepts of quantum and statistical mechanics. We explore the dynamical response of the system when driven out of equilibrium by a work parameter and compute analytically the full distribution of the work generated by the process. Considering work performed on the system as a random variable, we collect data for a large number of repeated cyclic processes of finite time. These data of finite time non-equilibrium processes will permit us to derive equilibrium values in quantities such as the free energy difference between the final and initial states of the system. Various properties of the system’s work distribution are explored.
Subject
Condensed Matter Physics,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials