The role of quantum information in thermodynamics

Quantum information theory is an active interdisciplinary field of research with current results branching into different areas, from computer science and pure mathematics to applications in condensed matter physics. My project lies at the heart of quantum information with a deep connection to statistical physics and thermodynamics, with the goal of analysing the distinctively quantum features of complex systems and characterizing relevant quantum resources in order to advance the fundamental understanding of physics in the quantum regime. It is divided into three work packages, each with a different level of potential impact and risk. The first work package is the backbone of the project where mathematical tools for characterizing quantum resources, such as entanglement, shall be developed and improved. In the second work package other potential candidates for relevant genuine quantum features shall be surveyed and the mathematical characterization of all such resources shall be adapted to be better suited for tackling some of the most challenging problems in quantum thermodynamics today. This is the aim of the third and final work package, where one of the main questions that will be addressed in this context is What is the role of quantum effects in quantum thermodynamics?. The answers to this question will be the basis of a better understanding how quantum machines or processes might harness quantum resources to enable performance beyond the classically possible and also provide a fundamental understanding of statistical physics at the quantum level. This division provides realistic short term targets with a guaranteed impact as well as adaptable high- risk/high-gain research questions that are uniquely tailored to my research experience and skills.

In the START project, the role of quantum information in thermodynamics, we investigated multiple facets of the interconnection of physics and information. In addition to numerous advances in entanglement theory, quantum communication and the development of mathematical methods, the project's main focus was thermodynamics at the quantum scale. The two most important insights can be summarised as follows: a) the arrow of time, that lets us distinguish between past and future is fundamentally determined by the second law of thermodynamics (the increase of the Universe's entropy in time). And clocks are essentially thermodynamic machines that convert work to timing information, whose quality is bounded by the amount of dissipated entropy b) measurement and the creation of correlations are non-equilibirum processes, that are also limited by thermodynamic bounds. Perfect knowledge is fundamentally impossible, yet arbitrarily approximable at a price that for quantum systems implies that the thermodynamic work needed to measure quantum information exceeds quantum mechanical energy scales