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Understanding how to assign internal energy, heat, and work in quantum systems beyond weak coupling remains a central problem in quantum thermodynamics, particularly as the difference between competing definitions becomes increasingly relevant. We identify two common sets of definitions for first-law quantities that are used to describe the thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to thermal environments. Both are conceptually non-symmetric, treating one part of the bipartition (the ‘system’) differently from the other (the ‘bath’). We analyze these in a setting where such roles are not easily assigned—two large (but finite) sets of thermal harmonic oscillators interacting with each other. We further compare them with a third set of definitions based on a local, conceptually symmetric open-system approach (‘minimal dissipation’) and discuss their quantitative and structural differences. In particular, we observe that all three sets of definitions differ substantially even when the two subsystems are weakly coupled and far detuned, and that the minimal dissipation approach features distinct work peaks that increase with the coupling strength.

We investigate the dynamics of open quantum systems which are initially correlated with their environment. The strategy of our approach is to analyze how given, fixed initial correlations modify the evolution of the open system with respect to the corresponding uncorrelated dynamical behavior with the same fixed initial environmental state, described by a completely positive dynamical map. We show that, for any predetermined initial correlations, one can introduce a linear dynamical map on the space of operators of the open system which acts like the proper dynamical map on the set of physical states and represents its unique linear extension. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this construction leads to a linear, time-local quantum master equation with generalized Lindblad structure involving time-dependent, possibly negative transition rates. Thus, the general non-Markovian dynamics of an open quantum system can be described by means of a time-local master equation even in the case of arbitrary, fixed initial system–environment correlations. We present some illustrative examples and explain the relation of our approach to several other approaches proposed in the literature.

Understanding how strong coupling and memory effects influence energy levels in open quantum systems is a fundamental challenge. Here, we experimentally probe these effects in a two-level open system coupled to a single-mode quantum environment, using Ramsey interferometry in a trapped ion. Operating in the strong coupling regime, we observe both dissipative effects and time-dependent energy shifts of up to 15% of the bare system frequency, with the total system effectively isolated from external environments. These dynamic shifts, likely ubiquitous across quantum platforms, arise solely from ultra-strong system-mode interactions and correlation build-up and are accurately predicted by the minimal-dissipation Ansatz. Our approach identifies these as generalised Lamb shifts, matching conventional predictions on time-average. We provide experimental fingerprints supporting the Ansatz of minimal-dissipation, thereby suggesting it as a testable quantum thermodynamics framework and establishing a foundation for future benchmarks in strong-coupling quantum thermodynamics and related technologies. Despite the remarkable successes of open quantum systems theory, the effect of system-environment interactions and energy exchange on the system dynamics still lacks a satisfactory description in the strong coupling regime. Here, the authors experimentally address the problem using a trapped Mg ion by studying the dynamics of pseudo spin coupled to a single motional mode, supporting a minimal dissipation Ansatz approach.

We develop a general theory describing the thermodynamical behavior of open quantum systems coupled to thermal baths beyond perturbation theory. Our approach is based on the exact time-local quantum master equation for the reduced open system states, and on a principle of minimal dissipation. This principle leads to a unique prescription for the decomposition of the master equation into a Hamiltonian part representing coherent time evolution and a dissipator part describing dissipation and decoherence. Employing this decomposition we demonstrate how to define work, heat, and entropy production, formulate the first and second law of thermodynamics, and establish the connection between violations of the second law and quantum non-Markovianity.

We perform a study on quantum entropy production, different kinds of correlations, and their interplay in the driven Caldeira-Leggett model of quantum Brownian motion. The model, taken with a large but finite number of bath modes, is exactly solvable, and the assumption of a Gaussian initial state leads to an efficient numerical simulation of all desired observables in a wide range of model parameters. Our study is composed of three main parts. We first compare two popular definitions of entropy production, namely the standard weak-coupling formulation originally proposed by Spohn and later on extended to the driven case by Deffner and Lutz, and the always-positive expression introduced by Esposito, Lindenberg and van den Broeck, which relies on the knowledge of the evolution of the bath. As a second study, we explore the decomposition of the Esposito et al. entropy production into system-environment and intra-environment correlations for different ranges of couplings and temperatures. Lastly, we examine the evolution of quantum correlations between the system and the environment, measuring entanglement through logarithmic negativity.

We investigate the dynamics of open quantum systems which are initially correlated with their environment. The strategy of our approach is to analyze how given, fixed initial correlations modify the evolution of the open system with respect to the corresponding uncorrelated dynamical behavior with the same fixed initial environmental state, described by a completely positive dynamical map. We show that, for any predetermined initial correlations, one can introduce a linear dynamical map on the space of operators of the open system which acts like the proper dynamical map on the set of physical states and represents its unique linear extension. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this construction leads to a linear, time-local quantum master equation with generalized Lindblad structure involving time-dependent, possibly negative transition rates. Thus, the general non-Markovian dynamics of an open quantum system can be described by means of a time-local master equation even in the case of arbitrary, fixed initial system-environment correlations. We present some illustrative examples and explain the relation of our approach to several other approaches proposed in the literature.

Environments in quantum thermodynamics usually take the role of heat baths. These baths are Markovian, weakly coupled to the system, and initialized in a thermal state. Whenever one of these properties is missing, standard quantum thermodynamics is no longer suitable to treat the thermodynamic properties of the system that result from the interaction with the environment. Using a recently proposed framework for open system quantum thermodynamics which is valid for arbitrary couplings and non-Markovian effects, we show that within the very same model, described by a Fano-Anderson Hamiltonian, the environment can take three different thermodynamic roles: a standard heat bath, exchanging only heat with the system, a work reservoir, exchanging only work, and a hybrid environment, providing both types of energy exchange. The exact role of the environment is determined by the strength and structure of the coupling, and by its initial state. The latter also dictates the long time behaviour of the open system, leading to thermal equilibrium for an initial thermal state and to a nonequilibrium steady state when there are displaced environmental modes.

Employing a recently developed approach to dynamically emergent quantum thermodynamics, we revisit the thermodynamic behavior of the quantum Otto cycle with a focus on memory effects and strong system-bath couplings. Our investigation is based on an exact treatment of non-Markovianity by means of an exact quantum master equation, modelling the dynamics through the Fano-Anderson model featuring a peaked environmental spectral density. By comparing the results to the standard Markovian case, we find that non-Markovian baths can induce work transfer to the system, and identify specific parameter regions which lead to enhanced work output and efficiency of the cycle. In particular, we demonstrate that these improvements arise when the cycle operates in a frequency interval which contains the peak of the spectral density. This can be understood from an analysis of the renormalized frequencies emerging through the system-baths couplings.

Understanding how to assign internal energy, heat, and work in quantum systems beyond weak coupling remains a central problem in quantum thermodynamics, particularly as the difference between competing definitions becomes increasingly relevant. We identify two common sets of definitions for first-law quantities that are used to describe the thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to thermal environments. Both are conceptually non-symmetric, treating one part of the bipartition (the \"system\") differently from the other (the \"bath\"). We analyze these in a setting where such roles are not easily assigned - two large (but finite) sets of thermal harmonic oscillators interacting with each other. We further compare them with a third set of definitions based on a local, conceptually symmetric open-system approach (\"minimal dissipation\") and discuss their quantitative and structural differences. In particular, we observe that all three sets of definitions differ substantially even when the two subsystems are weakly coupled and far detuned, and that the minimal dissipation approach features distinct work peaks that increase with the coupling strength.

We develop a recursive perturbative expansion for the time-convolutionless (TCL) generator of an open quantum system in a generalized Lindblad form. This formulation provides a systematic approach to derive the generator at arbitrary order while preserving a Lindblad-like structure, without imposing assumptions on the system or environment beyond an initially uncorrelated state. The generator is written, at all orders, in a canonical form, which also corresponds to the minimal dissipation condition, which uniquely specifies the decomposition of the generator into Hamiltonian and dissipative contributions. To validate the method and show its effectiveness in addressing non-Markovian dynamics and strong-coupling effects, we compute the generator explicitly up to fourth order.