{
  "id": "1310.7370",
  "version": "v2",
  "published": "2013-10-28T10:40:33.000Z",
  "updated": "2014-09-25T10:05:39.000Z",
  "title": "Symmetry and the thermodynamics of currents in open quantum systems",
  "authors": [
    "Daniel Manzano",
    "Pablo I. Hurtado"
  ],
  "comment": "12 pages, 6 figures",
  "journal": "Phys. Rev. B 90, 125138 (2014)",
  "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevB.90.125138",
  "categories": [
    "cond-mat.stat-mech",
    "math-ph",
    "math.MP",
    "quant-ph"
  ],
  "abstract": "Symmetry is a powerful concept in physics, and its recent application to understand nonequilibrium behavior is providing deep insights and groundbreaking exact results. Here we show how to harness symmetry to control transport and statistics in open quantum systems. Such control is enabled by a first-order-type dynamic phase transition in current statistics and the associated coexistence of different transport channels (or nonequilibrium steady states) classified by symmetry. Microreversibility then ensues, via the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem, a twin dynamic phase transition for rare current fluctuations. Interestingly, the symmetry present in the initial state is spontaneously broken at the fluctuating level, where the quantum system selects the symmetry sector that maximally facilitates a given fluctuation. We illustrate these results in a qubit network model motivated by the problem of coherent energy harvesting in photosynthetic complexes, and introduce the concept of a symmetry-controlled quantum thermal switch, suggesting symmetry-based design strategies for quantum devices with controllable transport properties.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2013-10-28T10:40:33.000Z",
      "abstract": "Symmetry is a powerful concept in physics, and its recent application to understand nonequilibrium behavior is providing deep insights and groundbreaking exact results. Here we show how to harness symmetry to control transport and statistics in open quantum systems via initial state preparation. In open quantum systems, a symmetry implies the existence of multiple, symmetry-classified nonequilibrium steady states. This coexistence of different transport channels, which enables symmetry-controlled transport, is a consequence of a dynamic phase transition in the statistics of current fluctuations, where the symmetry is broken to facilitate a given current deviation. Microreversibility then ensues, via the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem, a twin dynamic phase transition for rare reversed events. We apply these results to study transport in an open network of qubits, motivated by the problem of energy harvesting in photosynthetic complexes, where twin dynamic phase transitions and symmetry-controlled transport are clearly demonstrated. These results prove that the concept of symmetry has far reaching consequences to understand nonequilibrium behavior in quantum systems, and suggest symmetry-based design strategies for quantum devices with controllable transport properties and dissipation-engineered quantum computation.",
      "comment": "10 pages, 5 figures",
      "journal": null,
      "doi": null
    },
    {
      "version": "v2",
      "updated": "2014-09-25T10:05:39.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "subjects": [
      "05.60.Gg",
      "03.65.Yz",
      "44.10.+i"
    ],
    "keywords": [
      "open quantum systems",
      "twin dynamic phase transition",
      "understand nonequilibrium behavior",
      "thermodynamics",
      "gallavotti-cohen fluctuation theorem"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "APS",
      "journal": "Physical Review B",
      "year": 2014,
      "month": "Sep",
      "volume": 90,
      "number": 12,
      "pages": 125138
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 12,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "adsabs": "2014PhRvB..90l5138M"
    }
  }
}