Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Finite-time periodic control of an open quantum system is governed by the competition between nonadiabatic driving and reservoir-induced relaxation. We study this competition in a driven two-level system weakly coupled to a single thermal reservoir. Using a nonadiabatic time-dependent quantum master equation, we construct the periodic steady state and separate the dissipated work per cycle into population and nonadiabatic contributions in the instantaneous energy basis. The cycle work is nonmonotonic in the driving frequencies studied and is dominated near its maximum by the nonadiabatic contribution. Nonmonotonicity persists in the examined coupling, temperature, and transverse-amplitude scans. At low frequencies, the work recovers the inverse-period scaling of slow-driving thermodynamics. At higher frequencies, the nonadiabatic work rate ceases to grow in proportion to the driving frequency, and the accumulated work per cycle decreases. We also find that, at finite speed, the ratio of the upward and downward transition coefficients is not determined by the instantaneous energy gap alone and obtain the leading correction to instantaneous detailed balance through a short-memory expansion. These results identify how nonadiabatic transitions and relaxation jointly set the thermodynamic cost of sustaining a periodic quantum process.
Source: New Journal of Physics
Authors: Xiaoyun Wang, Haowei Wang, Dazhi Xu
Institution: Beijing Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,610
Awards: G4828743664, G6332639930, G8079532987
OpenAlex ID: W7211934980