Landauer vs. Nernst: What is the True Cost of Cooling a Quantum System?

Abstract

Thermodynamics connects our knowledge of the world to our capability to manipulate and thus to control it. This crucial role of control is exemplified by the third law of thermodynamics, Nernst's unattainability principle, stating that infinite resources are required to cool a system to absolute zero temperature. But what are these resources? And how does this relate to Landauer's principle that famously connects information and thermodynamics? We answer these questions by providing a framework for identifying the resources that enable the creation of pure quantum states. We show that perfect cooling is possible with Landauer energy cost given infinite time or control complexity. Within the context of resource theories of quantum thermodynamics, we derive a Carnot-Landauer limit, along with protocols for its saturation. This generalises Landauer's principle to a fully thermodynamic setting, leading to a unification with the third law and emphasising the importance of control in quantum thermodynamics.

Quantum thermodynamics under continuous monitoring: a general framework

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Thermodynamic optimization of quantum algorithms: on-the-go erasure of qubit registers

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Controlling the uncontrollable: Quantum control of open system dynamics

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