Thermodynamics of relativistic quantum fields confined in cavities

We investigate the quantum thermodynamical properties of localised relativistic quantum fields, and how they can be used as quantum thermal machines. We study the efficiency and power of energy transfer between the classical gravitational degrees of freedom, such as the energy input due to the motion of boundaries or an impinging gravitational wave, and the excitations of a confined quantum field. We find that the efficiency of energy transfer depends dramatically on the input initial state of the system. Furthermore, we investigate the ability of the system to extract energy from a gravitational wave and store it in a battery. This process is inefficient in optical cavities but is significantly enhanced when employing trapped Bose Einstein condensates. We also employ standard fluctuation results to obtain the work probability distribution, which allows us to understand how the efficiency is related to the dissipation of work. Finally, we apply our techniques to a setup where an impinging gravitational wave excites the phononic modes of a Bose Einstein condensate. We find that, in this case, the percentage of energy transferred to the phonons approaches unity after a suitable amount of time. These results give a quantitative insight into the thermodynamic behaviour of relativistic quantum fields confined in cavities.

Fluctuation relations, Gravitational waves, Quantum fields, Quantum machines, Quantum thermodynamics

10.1016/j.physleta.2020.126601

0375-9601

Bruschi, David Edward

12b53097-6abc-427a-9987-b034ac3fae81

Morris, Benjamin

cef71d33-79d1-4e9e-8503-9ebce64fd586

Fuentes, Ivette

c6d65a4c-feac-44c1-9097-e0f6a9e0cf44

7 September 2020

Bruschi, David Edward

12b53097-6abc-427a-9987-b034ac3fae81

Morris, Benjamin

cef71d33-79d1-4e9e-8503-9ebce64fd586

Fuentes, Ivette

c6d65a4c-feac-44c1-9097-e0f6a9e0cf44

Bruschi, David Edward, Morris, Benjamin and Fuentes, Ivette (2020) Thermodynamics of relativistic quantum fields confined in cavities. Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics, 384 (25), [126601]. (doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2020.126601).

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Published date: 7 September 2020

Additional Information: Funding Information: We thank the late Jacob Bekenstein, Tsvi Piran, Jandu Dradouma, Gabriel Landi and Luis Cortés Barbado for useful comments and suggestions. We are greatly indebted to Marcus Huber for his help with the thermodynamics aspects of this work. D.E.B. was initially supported by the I-CORE Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1937/12 ), as well as by the Israel Science Foundation personal grant No. 24/12 . D.E.B. was also supported by John Templeton Foundation grant no. 58745 and the COST Actions MP1209 and MP1304 . D.E.B. acknowledges support from the LIQUID collaboration, in which context part of this work was done. D.E.B. also acknowledges later hospitality from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Vienna, where part of this work was done. B.M. acknowledges the financial support of the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/N50970X/1 ). I.F. would like to acknowledge that this project was made possible through the support of the Penrose Institute, the grant “Quantum Observers in a Relativistic World” from FQXi's Physics of the Observer program, and the grant “Leaps in cosmology: gravitational wave detection with quantum systems' ” (No. 58745 ) from the John Templeton Foundation . Funding Information: We thank the late Jacob Bekenstein, Tsvi Piran, Jandu Dradouma, Gabriel Landi and Luis Cort?s Barbado for useful comments and suggestions. We are greatly indebted to Marcus Huber for his help with the thermodynamics aspects of this work. D.E.B. was initially supported by the I-CORE Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1937/12), as well as by the Israel Science Foundation personal grant No. 24/12. D.E.B. was also supported by John Templeton Foundation grant no. 58745 and the COST Actions MP1209 and MP1304. D.E.B. acknowledges support from the LIQUID collaboration, in which context part of this work was done. D.E.B. also acknowledges later hospitality from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Vienna, where part of this work was done. B.M. acknowledges the financial support of the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/N50970X/1). I.F. would like to acknowledge that this project was made possible through the support of the Penrose Institute, the grant ?Quantum Observers in a Relativistic World? from FQXi's Physics of the Observer program, and the grant ?Leaps in cosmology: gravitational wave detection with quantum systems' ? (No. 58745) from the John Templeton Foundation. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Fluctuation relations, Gravitational waves, Quantum fields, Quantum machines, Quantum thermodynamics

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