Looking for Work in Quantum Thermodynamics
Summarize this article with:
Quantum Physics arXiv:2601.06312 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 9 Jan 2026] Title:Looking for Work in Quantum Thermodynamics Authors:Eugene Y. S. Chua View a PDF of the paper titled Looking for Work in Quantum Thermodynamics, by Eugene Y. S. Chua View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:This paper diagnoses a much-discussed problem in quantum thermodynamics, that of generalizing classical work into the quantum domain. I begin with the no-go theorem of Perarnau-Llobet et al (2017): no universal measurement scheme for quantum work satisfies two intuitive, classically consilient desiderata. I assess this incompatibility as stemming from the measurement problem. Decoherence restores compatibility for all practical purposes, but raises questions about what 'universality' should mean and whether any measurement scheme can be 'universal'. I consider a different standard of universality -- in terms of ontology -- by defining a trajectory-based notion of quantum work using the quantum potential. While this preserves the classical role of work as the integral of forces over distances, and evades the tension of the no-go theorem, consilience fails elsewhere; no single quantum work concept seems capable of preserving all classical features, raising questions for what it takes for successful generalization of the work concept to quantum thermodynamics. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2601.06312 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2601.06312v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.06312 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Eugene Yew Siang Chua [view email] [v1] Fri, 9 Jan 2026 21:02:13 UTC (67 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Looking for Work in Quantum Thermodynamics, by Eugene Y. S. ChuaView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-01 Change to browse by: physics physics.hist-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)