Irreversibility in a unitary finite-rate protocol: the concept of internal friction

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Cakmak S., Altintas F., Mustecaplioglu O. E.

PHYSICA SCRIPTA, vol.91, no.7, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 91 Issue: 7
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.1088/0031-8949/91/7/075101
  • Journal Name: PHYSICA SCRIPTA
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Keywords: internal friction, quantum thermodynamics, quantum adiabatic process, quantum relative entropy, UNIFIED QUANTUM-THEORY, ENTROPY PRODUCTION, THERMODYNAMICS, MECHANICS, DISSIPATION, DYNAMICS, EQUATION
  • Ondokuz Mayıs University Affiliated: No

Abstract

The concept of internal friction, a fully quantum mechanical phenomena, is investigated in a simple, experimentally accessible quantum system in which a spin-1/2 is driven by a transverse magnetic field in a quantum adiabatic process. The irreversible production of the waste energy due to the quantum friction is quantitatively analyzed in a forward-backward unitary transform of the system Hamiltonian by using the quantum relative entropy between the actual density matrix obtained in a parametric transformation and the one in a reversible adiabatic process. Analyzing the role of total transformation time and the different pulse control schemes on the internal friction reveal the non-monotone character of the internal friction as a function of the total protocol time and the possibility for almost frictionless solutions in finite-time transformations.