Perspective: Quantum Thermodynamics

Understand

Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life.

• It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as work and entropy.
• As systems get ever smaller, fluctuations of these quantities become increasingly relevant, prompting the development of stochastic thermodynamics.
• Recently we have seen a surge of interest in exploring the quantum regime, where the origin of fluctuations is quantum rather than thermal.