Quantum thermodynamics with fast driving and strong coupling via the mesoscopic leads approach

Understanding the thermodynamics of driven quantum systems strongly coupled to thermal baths is a central focus of quantum thermodynamics and mesoscopic physics. A variety of different methodological approaches exist in the literature, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. The mesoscopic leads approach was recently generalized to steady-state thermal machines and has the ability to replicate Landauer-Büttiker theory in the noninteracting limit. In this approach a set of discretized lead modes, each locally damped, provide a Markovian embedding for the baths. In this work we further generalize this approach to incorporate an arbitrary time dependence in the system Hamiltonian. Following a careful discussion of the calculation of thermodynamic quantities we illustrate the power of our approach by studying several driven mesoscopic examples coupled to finite-temperature fermionic baths, replicating known results in various limits. In the case of a driven noninteracting quantum dot we show how fast driving can be used to induce heat rectification