Impossibility of universal work extraction from coherence: reconciling axiomatic and resource-theory approaches

Abstract

We compare how the impossibility of a universal work extractor from coherence arises from different approaches to quantum thermodynamics: an explicit protocol accounting for all relevant quantum resources, and axiomatic, information-theoretic constraints imposed by constructor theory. We first explain how the impossibility of a universal work extractor from coherence is directly implied by a recently proposed constructor-theoretic theorem based on distinguishability, which is scale- and dynamics- independent. Then we give an explicit demonstration of this result within quantum theory, by proving the impossibility of generalising a proposed quantum protocol for deterministically extracting work from coherence. We demonstrate a new connection between the impossibility of universal work extractors and constructor-based irreversibility, which was recently shown using the quantum homogenizer. Finally we discuss additional avenues for applying the constructor-theoretic formulation of work extraction to quantum thermodynamics, including the irreversibility of quantum computation and thermodynamics of multiple conserved quantities.