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Saturday, 24 April, 2010

Berry-Phase-Induced Heat Pumping and Its Impact on the Fluctuation Theorem

J. Ren, P. Hänggi, and B. Li -
Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 170601 (2010)

Applying adiabatic, cyclic two-parameter modulations we investigate quantum heat transfer across an anharmonic molecular junction contacted with two heat baths. We demonstrate that the pumped heat typically exhibits a Berry-phase effect in providing an additional geometric contribution to heat flux. Remarkably, a robust fractional quantized geometric phonon response is identified as well. The presence of this geometric phase contribution in turn causes a breakdown of the fluctuation theorem of the Gallavotti-Cohen type for quantum heat transfer. This can be restored only if (i) the geometric phase contribution vanishes and if (ii) the cyclic protocol preserves the detailed balance symmetry.

 

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