Catalytic Coherence

2013/04/30 by Johan Åberg, Johan Aberg · 7 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) #Computer science #Degree of coherence #Eigenvalues and eigenvectors #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum mechanics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical physics #Superposition principle #Theoretical physics #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.113.150402

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 150402 (2014) · Added material, journal reference

openalex publication_date 2014/10/07 · arxiv created 2014/10/20 · arxiv updated 2014/10/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Because of conservation of energy we cannot directly turn a quantum system with a definite energy into a superposition of different energies. However, if we have access to an additional resource in terms of a system with a high degree of coherence, as for standard models of laser light, we can overcome this limitation. The question is to what extent coherence gets degraded when utilized. Here it is shown that coherence can be turned into a catalyst, meaning that we can use it repeatedly without ever diminishing its power to enable coherent operations. This finding stands in contrast to the degradation of other quantum resources and has direct consequences for quantum thermodynamics, as it shows that latent energy that may be locked into superpositions of energy eigenstates can be released catalytically.

Citations

• Are there quantum bounds on the recyclability of clock signals in low power computers?
• Synchronizing quantum clocks with classical one-way communication: Bounds on the generated entropy
• How much work can a quantum device extract from a heat engine?
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• A sharp continuity estimate for the von Neumann entropy
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• A de Finetti representation for finite symmetric quantum states
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• Universal entanglement transformations without communication
• The resource theory of quantum reference frames: manipulations and monotones
• Reference frames, superselection rules, and quantum information
• Quantum computations: algorithms and error correction
• Generalizing Landauer’s principle
• Coherent and Incoherent States of the Radiation Field
• Concentrating entanglement by local actions---beyond mean values
• Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process

Cited by

• Charging efficiency bursts in a quantum battery with cyclic indefinite causal order
• Uncertainty Relations in Implementation of Unitary Operations
• Entanglement enhanced distinguishability of coherence-breaking channels
• Resource theory of superposition: State transformations
• Quantum resource theories
• Correlating Thermal Machines and the Second Law at the Nanoscale
• Relative quantum coherence, incompatibility, and quantum correlations of states