Autonomous entanglement engines: open questions raised by the use of the reset master equation

Entanglement is a key phenomenon distinguishing quantum from classical physics, and is a paradigmatic resource enabling many applications of quantum information science. Generating and maintaining entanglement is therefore a central challenge. In the past years, with my colleagues in Geneva and Vienna, we have proposed a series of autonomous thermal machines that allow to generate in the steady-state regime quantum correlations between two or more quantum systems (that can be of arbitrary dimension) [1-3]. In contrast to other proposals towards nanoscale thermal machines, these ones have a genuine quantum output and do not have a classical counterpart. They are now often referred to as entanglement engines. In this talk, I will present the general functioning of those entanglement engines. In particular, their dynamics and the steady-state regime were investigated using a reset evolution equation which describes in a probabilistic and phenomenological way the interaction of a quantum system with an environment. The use and validity of this reset equation with respect to the laws of thermodynamics open new questions and will be discussed, in particular with respect to local detailed balance condition and the entropy balance [4]. $$ $$ [1] J. Bohr Brask, G. Haack, N. Brunner, M. Huber, NJP 17 (2015) $$ $$ [2] A. Tavakoli, G. Haack, M. Huber, N. Brunner, J. Bohr Brask, Quantum 2 (2018) $$ $$ [3] A. Tavakoli, G. Haack, N. Brunner, J. Bohr Brask, arXiv:1906.00022 (2019) $$ $$ [4] G. Haack et al., on going work.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor affiliation: University of GenevaOthe