Thermodynamics of quantum systems driven far from equilibrium

Abstract

In this Thesis, I would present the work done during my Ph.D. course, in the last three years. These studies have been focused on non equilibrium processes in quantum systems, and have led to several different interesting results, which are undoubtedly rooted in the field of the quantum thermodynamics. We have performed a general theoretical analysis, allowing to characterize the thermodynamic irreversibility of this kind of processes [A].This is content of part of the Thesis, consisting of Chap. 3. Then, we considered some particular physical systems, among which quantum spin chains [B,C], and a Dicke model [D]. A new kind of work extraction protocol has been also proposed [E], in which the presence of quantum correlations plays a crucial role.