Group meeting: Prof. Haitao Quan and Dr. Ken Funo

Path integral approach to work and heat in quantum thermodynamics

Speaker: Dr. Ken Funo

By introducing a novel concept of work and heat functional along individual Feynman path, we reformulate the two-point measurement scheme in quantum thermodynamics based on the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. We perform \hbar expansions and smoothly connect the work and heat functional to their classical counterparts. In addition, we utilize the semi-classical limit of the path integral and analytically prove the quantum-classical correspondence of the work and heat statistics. This formalism provides an effective way to calculate the work and heat in open quantum systems described by the Caldeira-Leggett model by utilizing various path integral techniques. We believe that the obtained path integral formalism of quantum thermodynamics provides new insights and improve our understandings about work and heat in quantum systems.