https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00067-3
Regular Article
A Green’s function perspective on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of open quantum systems strongly coupled to baths
Nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics
1
Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, 85748, Garching, Germany
2
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 92093, La Jolla, CA, USA
Received:
10
April
2020
Accepted:
5
January
2021
Published online:
12
April
2021
We give a nonequilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) perspective on thermodynamics formulations for open quantum systems that are strongly coupled to baths. A scattering approach implying thermodynamic consideration of a supersystem (system plus baths) that is weakly coupled to external superbaths is compared with the consideration of thermodynamics of a system that is strongly coupled to its baths. We analyze both approaches from the NEGF perspective and argue that the latter yields a possibility of thermodynamic formulation consistent with a dynamical (quantum transport) description.
© The Author(s) 2021
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