Abstract: Accurately describing work extraction from a quantum system is a central objective for the extension of thermodynamics to individual quantum systems. The concepts of work and heat are surprisingly subtle when generalizations are made to arbitrary quantum states. We formulate an operational thermodynamics suitable for application to an open quantum system undergoing quantum evolution under a general quantum process by which we mean a completely-positive and trace-preserving map. We derive an operational first law of thermodynamics for such proce...
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Topics: 
Statistical physics
Thermodynamics
Theoretical physics