Scattering approach to thermodynamics of quantum systems

Understanding thermodynamics in the quantum regime involves the understanding of how energy and information are exchanged between a quantum system and its surroundings.

Although the laws of thermodynamics are well understood for macroscopic classical environments, advancements in quantum technology press the need for a microscopic approach which treats the surroundings as a quantum system in its own right.

This project, which I call scattering approach to thermodynamics of quantum systems (SAT-Q), aims at providing such an approach.

It relies on a quantum treatment of the surroundings as particles which travel in space and scatter with a quantum system.

The starting point of SAT-Q are state-of-the-art results showing how the scattering approach with massive particles goes beyond existing collision-based approaches to thermodynamics of quantum systems by explaining the notions of heat and work in a fully-quantum fashion.

The plan of the SAT-Q is then to extend the scattering approach to situations of greater theoretical and experimental relevance, where particle statistics are important and when incoming particles are photons. This is essential in quantum transport and optics setups, where the scattering approach can be applied.

In parallel, the plan of SAT-Q is to establish a connection between the scattering approach and more abstract approaches to thermodynamics based on resource theories, bringing the latter closer to reality.

Since scattering is ubiquitous in nature and physics experiments, I expect SAT-Q to produce new, foundational results in the field of quantum thermodynamics which can be directly tested in modern experiments.