Jarzynski Equality in PT-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics
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2015-04-13
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Sebastian Deffner and Avadh Saxena, Jarzynski Equality in PT-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114(15) (2015), DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.150601
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law
Public Domain Mark 1.0
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law
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Abstract
We show that the quantum Jarzynski equality generalizes to PT-symmetric quantum mechanics with unbroken PT symmetry. In the regime of broken PT symmetry, the Jarzynski equality does not hold as also the CPT norm is not preserved during the dynamics. These findings are illustrated for an experimentally relevant system—two coupled optical waveguides. It turns out that for these systems the phase transition between the regimes of unbroken and broken PT symmetry is thermodynamically inhibited as the irreversible work diverges at the critical point.