Thermodynamic analysis of autonomous quantum systems
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2601.01272 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 3 Jan 2026] Title:Thermodynamic analysis of autonomous quantum systems Authors:Tiago F. F. Santos, Camille Latune View a PDF of the paper titled Thermodynamic analysis of autonomous quantum systems, by Tiago F. F. Santos and Camille Latune View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Traditional quantum thermodynamic frameworks associate work to energy exchanges induced by unitary transformations generated by external controls, and heat to energy exchanges induced by bath interaction. Recently, a framework was introduced aiming at extending the thermodynamic formalism to genuine quantum settings, also referred to as autonomous quantum systems: free from external controls, only quantum systems interacting with each other. In this paper, we apply such a thermodynamic framework to common experimental situations of interacting quantum systems. In situations where traditional frameworks detect only heat exchanges, the recent autonomous thermodynamic framework points at work exchanges based on two mechanisms: population inversion and coherence generation / consumption. Such mechanisms are well known in the literature for being related to work expenditure and extraction, in particular in relation with ergotropy, which emphasizes the relevance of the autonomous framework and the limitations of traditional ones. Furthermore, the autonomous framework also identifies a genuine non-unitary mechanism of work exchange related to athermality. %, also pointed out as a resource for work extraction. Finally, in the semi-classical limit, the autonomous framework identifies all energy exchanges as pure work, but distinguishes between local work and interaction energy. Our results show that the autonomous framework provides a refined analysis of work exchange mechanisms in the quantum realm and serves as a consistent approach to analyze thermodynamic processes in realistic quantum devices. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2601.01272 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2601.01272v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.01272 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Tiago Santos [view email] [v1] Sat, 3 Jan 2026 20:07:41 UTC (135 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Thermodynamic analysis of autonomous quantum systems, by Tiago F. F. Santos and Camille LatuneView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-01 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?)