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The Importance of the Connection Between Quantum Physics and Thermodynamics

 

 

We know how quantum particles will behave theoretically when we reach absolute zero. We can explain this with the Bose-Einstein condensation. However, the laws of thermodynamics say that an infinite amount of energy and an infinite amount of time is required to go to absolute zero experimentally.

On top of that, a research team at TU Wien (Vienna) was able to develop a quantum version of the third law of thermodynamics, which, according to their newest research, describes absolute zero.

Although information theory and thermodynamics may seem quite different at first glance, they may be intertwined, according to the research team. In other words, if absolute zero can be reached, this can mean a perfect erasure of quantum data information. The only problem here is that going down to absolute zero does not seem technically possible for now.

According to Landauer's principle in information theory, a suitable minimum energy may be sufficient to erase one bit of information. Taking advantage of this situation, the researchers stated that there is no need for infinite energy or infinite time to go down to absolute zero, but they can do it with sufficient minimum energy and time, but a third factor, is complexity.

Marcus Huber who is one of the researchers"We found that quantum systems that allow the absolute ground state to be reached even at finite energy and in finite time can be described - none of us expected this. But these particular quantum systems have another important property: they are infinitely complex."

Also, according to the team, in order to perfectly erase quantum information in finite energy and in finite time and transfer a qubit to a completely pure ground state in the process, you would need an infinitely complex quantum computer that could theoretically control an infinite number of particles perfectly.

Stating that creating a quantum state compatible with high temperatures is important to prevent quantum states from breaking and becoming unusable for any technical use, the researchers also state that progress will be made thanks to the latest studies in these two areas.

Those who want to learn the details of the study can access the article from the link below.

Stay with physics. :)



Reference

Philip Taranto, Faraj Bakhshinezhad, Andreas Bluhm, Ralph Silva, Nicolai Friis, Maximilian P.E. Lock, Giuseppe Vitagliano, Felix C. Binder, Tiago Debarba, Emanuel Schwarzhans, Fabien Clivaz, Marcus Huber. Landauer Versus Nernst: What is the True Cost of Cooling a Quantum System? PRX Quantum, 2023; 4 (1) DOI: 10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.010332

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