Quantum non-equilibrium steady states

Systems driven out of equilibrium by an externally imposed voltage or temperature gradient generally reach a steady state characterised by stationary currents of particles or energy. These non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) are one of the fundamental building blocks of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, yet many open questions remain. What is the structure of correlations in a NESS and how can they be efficiently represented? Do fundamental principles constrain fluctuations far from equilibrium? How do spectral features such as symmetries and topology enter? We try to address these problems and more in the quantum domain.

Related work

M. T. Mitchison, Á. Rivas, and M. A. Martin-Delgado, Robust non-equilibrium edge currents with and without band topology, arXiv:2106.05988

M. Brenes, J. J. Mendoza-Arenas, A. Purkayastha, M. T. Mitchison, S. R. Clark, and J. Goold, Tensor-Network Method to Simulate Strongly Interacting Quantum Thermal Machines, Phys. Rev. X 10, 031040 (2020)

M. T. Mitchison and M. B. Plenio, Non-additive dissipation in open quantum networks out of equilibrium, New J. Phys. 20, 033005 (2018)