Thermodynamic principles are often deceptively simple and yet surprisingly powerful. We show how a simple rule, such as the net flow of energy in and out of a moving atom under a nonequilibrium steady state condition, can expose the shortcomings of many popular theories of quantum friction. Our thermodynamic approach provides a conceptual framework in guiding atom-optical experiments, thereby highlighting the importance of fluctuation-dissipation relations and long-time correlations between subsystems. Our results introduce consistency conditions for (numerical) models of nonequilibrium dynamics of open quantum systems.

中文翻译：

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量子摩擦的非平衡热力学

热力学原理通常看似简单，但却出奇的强大。我们展示了一个简单的规则（例如，在非平衡稳态条件下进出移动原子的净能量流）可以揭示许多流行的量子摩擦理论的缺点。我们的热力学方法为指导原子光学实验提供了一个概念框架，从而突出了波动耗散关系和子系统之间长期关联的重要性。我们的结果介绍了开放量子系统非平衡动力学（数值）模型的一致性条件。