Fluctuations in Extractable Work Bound the Charging Power of Quantum Batteries

Journal Article · 21 July 2020 · Physical Review Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.040601 · OSTI ID:1644206

García-Pintos, Luis Pedro  ^[1]; Hamma, Alioscia ^[2]; del Campo, Adolfo ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston, MA (United States); JQI and QuICS, University of Maryland
2. Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston, MA (United States)
3. Donostia International Physics Center, Bilbao (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Bilbao (Spain); Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston, MA (United States)

We study the connection between the charging power of quantum batteries and the fluctuations of the extractable work. We prove that in order to have a non-zero rate of change of the extractable work, the state of the battery cannot be an eigenstate of a ‘free energy operator’, which characterizes the free energy of a system. We do so by proving that fluctuations in the free energy operator upper bound the charging power of a quantum battery. Our findings also suggest that quantum coherence in the battery enhances the charging process, which we illustrate on a toy model of a heat engine.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0019515
• OSTI ID: 1644206
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 125; ISSN 1079-7114; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English