The general expressions of heat and work in two representations of quantum mechanics

Abstract

By employing two representations of quantum mechanics, the general expressions of heat and work are derived. Quantum coherence associated with the superpositions of basis vectors in the two representations has been demonstrated to be essential in thermodynamics. The power is completely generated by the coherence work in the spin precession process, while the heat is mainly determined by the coherence heat in the spontaneous emission process. The results develop a fundamental framework to find thermodynamic relations in quantum evolution processes.