title: Quantum driving and work.
abstract: As quantum systems become more experimentally accessible, we are forced to reconsider the notions of control and work to fully account for quantum effects. To this end, we identify the work injected into a quantum system during a general quantum-mechanical driving protocol and quantify the relevant heat flows. The known results that are applicable in the limit of a classical drive are shown to emerge from our equations as a special case. Using the established framework, we show that the Bochkov-Kuzovlev identity for the exclusive work distribution is modified in a nontrivial way by the accumulation of system-drive correlations resulting from quantum back action. Our results accentuate the conceptual and discernible differences between a fully quantum-mechanical and classical driving protocols of quantum systems.
authors.affiliation: QCD Labs, COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, P.O. Box 13500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salmilehto
authors.affiliation: SPIN-CNR, Via Dodecaneso 33, I-16146 Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solinas
authors.affiliation: QCD Labs, COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, P.O. Box 13500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland and Low Temperature Laboratory (OVLL), Aalto University, P.O. Box 13500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Möttönen