INformaTion pRocessing and the thErmodynamics of PrecIsion in quantum Devices

The aim of this proposal is to characterise the thermodynamic cost of precision in genuinely quantum thermal machines (externally driven, quantum-information fuelled and autonomous heat engines and refrigerators).

Precision in a physical system is related to fluctuations of measurable quantities, an aspect that becomes very relevant at the nano-scale.

Achieving a machine with a certain reliability (i.e. precision in the output) inevitably comes at a cost in terms of thermodynamic resources, such as dissipated heat or excess work, thus massively impacting the machines’ performances.

Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations have represented a landmark first step in understanding this balance and their generalisation is now encroaching upon the laws of quantum mechanics.

Combining them at a fundamental level still represents an almost uncharted territory, which promises exciting practical applications in the correct design of next generation quantum technologies.In this project I will determine the most fundamental tradeoff between precision and dissipation in quantum thermal machines in a novel and timely way, by combining my expertise in quantum and stochastic thermodynamics and in thermodynamic geometry with the experience of my host, Prof.

Jens Eisert, in quantum information and quantum many-body physics.

In particular, this will be done through a two-fold effort: a theoretical framework based on analytical and numerical results; a groundbreaking (yet feasible in the given timeframe) experiment on quantum field machines, based on the AtomChip technology that is being developed within a large FQXI grant recently won by the host and by the secondment (Prof.

Jörg Schmiedmayer).

I will perform this Action in the perfectly suited environment of the “Quantum many-body theory, quantum information theory” group at Freie Universität Berlin.