Anomalous heat transfer in nonequilibrium quantum systems

Anomalous heat transfer (AHT), a process by which heat spontaneously flows from a cold system into a hot one, superficially contradicts the Clausius statement of the second law of thermodynamics. Here we provide a full classification of mechanisms of AHT in nonequilibrium quantum systems from a quantum-information perspective. For initial states in local equilibrium, we find that AHT can arise from three resources: initial correlation, intrasystem interaction, and intrasystem temperature inhomogeneity. In particular, for qubit systems, we prove that initial quantum coherence is necessary for AHT if the intersystem interactions are limited to the two-body type. We explicitly show AHT dominated by each of the mechanisms in a three-qubit system. Our classification scheme may offer a guideline for developing high-efficiency quantum autonomous thermal machines.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Research
Published
2025-02-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.7.l012044
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.32

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article

Anomalous heat transfer in nonequilibrium quantum systems

Jing-Ning Zhang, Teng Ma, Man‐Hong Yung, Yuan-Sheng Wang et al.
1 citations
Physical Review Research
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
1.32
article

Anomalous heat transfer in nonequilibrium quantum systems

Jing-Ning Zhang, Teng Ma, Man‐Hong Yung, Yuan-Sheng Wang, Hong-Yi Xie
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Anomalous heat transfer (AHT), a process by which heat spontaneously flows from a cold system into a hot one, superficially contradicts the Clausius statement of the second law of thermodynamics. Here we provide a full classification of mechanisms of AHT in nonequilibrium quantum systems from a quantum-information perspective. For initial states in local equilibrium, we find that AHT can arise from three resources: initial correlation, intrasystem interaction, and intrasystem temperature inhomogeneity. In particular, for qubit systems, we prove that initial quantum coherence is necessary for AHT if the intersystem interactions are limited to the two-body type. We explicitly show AHT dominated by each of the mechanisms in a three-qubit system. Our classification scheme may offer a guideline for developing high-efficiency quantum autonomous thermal machines.

Physical Review ResearchVol. 7(1)
Beijing Normal University (CN), Southern University of Science and Technology (CN), Quantum (Australia) (AU), Botswana Geoscience Institute (BW), Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (CN), BGI Research (CN), University of Oklahoma (US)
University of Oklahoma, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Economy, Trade and Information Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Special Project for Research and Development in Key areas of Guangdong Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
1.32
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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Anomalous heat transfer in nonequilibrium quantum systems — Jing-Ning Zhang, Teng Ma, et al. · Physical Review Research (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS