Quantum Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation and Macroscopic Superconducting Coherence
ORAL
Abstract
Stability and efficiency are mutually exclusive in a thermodynamic process, e.g. in a thermal machine. Any effort to reduce the fluctuations of a certain output quantity is necessarily accompanied by an increase of entropy production, therefore lowering its efficiency. This interplay is beautifully captured by the so called Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relations (TURs) which set a lower bound on the relative uncertainty of a current for a given rate of entropy production. Their status in hybrid normal-superconducting (N-S) devices has remained unsettled. We show that, in the subgap regime, departures from the normal quantum TUR are governed by macroscopic superconducting coherence quantified by the pair amplitude, and that introducing a dephasing probe suppresses this coherence and restores the bound. We further derive a hybrid quantum TUR that is general for two-terminal N-S junctions in the Andreev regime: the inequality is never violated, is saturated only at vanishing current, and is related to the normal quantum bound under the replacement e→2e. For N-S quantum dot and Cooper-pair-splitter systems we compute current and noise and show that deviations from the normal bound track the pair amplitude on the central region. The results establish a direct link between superconducting macroscopic coherence and nonequilibrium fluctuations and supply a general bound for the Andreev regime.
*We acknowledge support from CONICET and Universidad de Buenos aires, Grant No. UBACyT (20020130100406BA) and ANPCyT (PICT-2019-04349 and PICT-2021-01288) (F.M.), the European Union under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101148213, EATTS) (N.S.), MUR-PRIN 2022 - Grant No. 2022B9P8LN - (PE3)-Project NEThEQS "Non-equilibrium coherent thermal effects in quantum systems" in PNRR Mission 4 - Component 2 - Investment 1.1 "Fondo per il Programma Nazionale di Ricerca e Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)" (F.T.), PNRR MUR project PE0000023-NQSTI (R.F), the Royal Society through the International Exchanges between the UK and Italy (Grants No. IEC R2 192166) (F.T), and the European Union (ERC, RAVE, 101053159)
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Publication:-Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation in Hybrid Normal-Superconducting Systems: The Role of superconducting coherence. Submitted manuscript, doi: 2506.02904
Presenters
Nahual Sobrino
Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Authors
Nahual Sobrino
Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Franco Mayo
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Fisica, Buenos Aires, Argentina
rosario fazio
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Fabio Taddei
NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy