Exchange Fluctuation Theorem Research Articles

Vibrational cooling, heating, and instability in molecular conducting junctions: full counting statistics analysis

We study current-induced vibrational cooling, heating, and instability in a donor-acceptor rectifying molecular junction using a full counting statistics approach. In our model, electron-hole pair excitations are coupled to a given molecular vibrational mode which is either harmonic or highly anharmonic. This mode may be further coupled to a dissipative thermal environment. Adopting a master equation approach, we confirm the charge and heat exchange fluctuation theorem in the steady-state limit, for both harmonic and anharmonic models. Using simple analytical expressions, we calculate the charge current and several measures for the mode effective temperature. At low bias, we observe the effect of bias-induced cooling of the vibrational mode. At higher bias, the mode effective temperature is higher than the environmental temperature, yet the junction is stable. Beyond that, once the vibrational mode (bias-induced) excitation rate overcomes its relaxation rate, instability occurs. We identify regimes of instability as a function of voltage bias and coupling to an additional phononic thermal bath. Interestingly, we observe a reentrant behavior where an unstable junction can properly behave at a high enough bias. The mechanism for this behavior is discussed.

Quantum fluctuation theorem for heat exchange in the strong coupling regime

We study quantum heat exchange in a multi-state impurity coupled to two thermal reservoirs. Allowing for strong system-bath interactions, we show that a steady-state heat exchange fluctuation theorem holds, though the dynamical processes nonlinearly involve the two reservoirs. We accomplish a closed expression for the cumulant generating function, and use it obtain the heat current and its cumulants in a nonlinear thermal junction, the two-bath spin-boson model.

Non-equilibrium spin-boson model: Counting statistics and the heat exchange fluctuation theorem

We focus on the non-equilibrium two-bath spin-boson model, a toy model for examining quantum thermal transport in many-body open systems. Describing the dynamics within the noninteracting-blip approximation equations, applicable, e.g., in the strong system-bath coupling limit and/or at high temperatures, we derive expressions for the cumulant generating function in both the Markovian and non-Markovian limits by energy-resolving the quantum master equation of the subsystem. For a Markovian bath, we readily demonstrate the validity of a steady-state heat exchange fluctuation theorem. In the non-Markovian limit a "weaker" symmetry relation generally holds, a general outcome of microreversibility. We discuss the reduction of this symmetry relation to the universal steady-state fluctuation theorem. Using the cumulant generating function, an analytic expression for the heat current is obtained. Our results establish the validity of the steady-state heat exchange fluctuation theorem in quantum systems with strong system-bath interactions. From the practical point of view, this study provides tools for exploring transport characteristics of the two-bath spin-boson model, a prototype for a nonlinear thermal conductor.

The Exchange Fluctuation Theorem in Quantum Mechanics

We study the heat transfer between two finite quantum systems initially at different temperatures. We find that a recently proposed fluctuation theorem for heat exchange, namely the exchange fluctuation theorem (C. Jarzynski and D. K. Wojcik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 (2004), 230602), does not generally hold in the presence of a finite heat transfer as in the original form proved for weak coupling. As the coupling is weakened, the deviation from the theorem and the heat transfer vanish in the same order of the coupling. We then discover a condition for the exchange fluctuation theorem to hold in the presence of a finite heat transfer, namely the commutable-coupling condition. We explicitly calculate the deviation from the exchange fluctuation theorem as well as the heat transfer for simple models. We confirm for the models that the deviation indeed has a finite value as far as the coupling between the two systems is finite except for the special point of the commutable-coupling condition. We also confirm analytically that the commutable-coupling condition indeed lets the exchange fluctuation theorem hold exactly under a finite heat transfer. Subject Index: 058