Quantum

Your beer can only cool so fast. Blame quantum mechanics

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Briefings

A new study published in Nature Physics by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Vienna, and University of Geneva establishes a fundamental limit on how fast quantum systems can thermalize. While machines can cool systems arbitrarily fast, quantum mechanics imposes a minimum wait time of approximately h/(2kBT), where h is Planck's constant and kB is Boltzmann's constant. This limit applies to systems close to each other and excludes instantaneous swaps, as the thermalization machine must work for all similar systems simultaneously. The research connects these thermodynamic limits to broader questions about the second and third laws of thermodynamics.

Key points

• The minimum thermalization time for a quantum system is approximately h/(2kBT), where h is Planck's constant and kB is Boltzmann's constant, establishing a fundamental limit that cannot be bypassed.
• Researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Vienna, and University of Geneva developed a 'thermalization machine' using Hamiltonians to prove this limit, excluding instantaneous swaps that would violate quantum mechanical consistency.

Context and limitations

The study focuses on systems that already possess the ability to thermalize; it does not address systems where thermalization is not guaranteed. The specific conditions under which thermalization is always guaranteed remain an unanswered puzzle. Results are based on assumptions of quantum mechanical consistency and are preliminary, with uncertainty regarding the exact boundary conditions.

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