TY - JOUR
T1 - The third law of thermodynamics in open quantum systems
AU - Shastry, Abhay
AU - Xu, Yiheng
AU - Stafford, Charles A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Author(s).
PY - 2019/8/14
Y1 - 2019/8/14
N2 - We consider open quantum systems consisting of a finite system of independent fermions with arbitrary Hamiltonian coupled to one or more equilibrium fermion reservoirs (which need not be in equilibrium with each other). A strong form of the third law of thermodynamics, S(T) → 0 as T → 0, is proven for fully open quantum systems in thermal equilibrium with their environment, defined as systems where all states are broadened due to environmental coupling. For generic open quantum systems, it is shown that S(T) → g ln 2 as T → 0, where g is the number of localized states lying exactly at the chemical potential of the reservoir. For driven open quantum systems in a nonequilibrium steady state, it is shown that the local entropy Sx;T→0 as T(x) → 0, except for cases of measure zero arising due to localized states, where T(x) is the temperature measured by a local thermometer.
AB - We consider open quantum systems consisting of a finite system of independent fermions with arbitrary Hamiltonian coupled to one or more equilibrium fermion reservoirs (which need not be in equilibrium with each other). A strong form of the third law of thermodynamics, S(T) → 0 as T → 0, is proven for fully open quantum systems in thermal equilibrium with their environment, defined as systems where all states are broadened due to environmental coupling. For generic open quantum systems, it is shown that S(T) → g ln 2 as T → 0, where g is the number of localized states lying exactly at the chemical potential of the reservoir. For driven open quantum systems in a nonequilibrium steady state, it is shown that the local entropy Sx;T→0 as T(x) → 0, except for cases of measure zero arising due to localized states, where T(x) is the temperature measured by a local thermometer.
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U2 - 10.1063/1.5100182
DO - 10.1063/1.5100182
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85070736288
SN - 0021-9606
VL - 151
JO - Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - Journal of Chemical Physics
IS - 6
M1 - 064115
ER -