Entropy production dynamics in quench protocols of a driven-dissipative critical system

Abstract

Driven-dissipative phase transitions are currently a topic of intense research due to the prospect of experimental realizations in quantum optical setups. The most paradigmatic model presenting such a transition is the Kerr model, which predicts the phenomenon of optical bistability, where the system may relax to two different steady-states for the same driving condition. These states, however, are inherently out-of-equilibrium and are thus characterized by the continuous production of irreversible entropy, a key quantifier in thermodynamics. In this paper we study the dynamics of the entropy production rate in a quench scenario of the Kerr model, where the external pump is abruptly changed. This is accomplished using a recently developed formalism, based on the Husimi $Q$-function, which is particularly tailored for driven-dissipative and non-Gaussian bosonic systems [Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 013136 (2020)]. Within this framework the entropy production can be split into two contributions, one being extensive with the drive and describing classical irreversibility, and the other being intensive and directly related to quantum fluctuations. The latter, in particular, is found to reveal the high degree of non-adiabaticity, for quenches between different metastable states.