Selective weak measurement reveals super-ergotropy

Abstract

The concept of ergotropy was previously introduced as the maximum extractable work from a quantum state. Its enhancement, which is induced by quantum correlation via projective measurement, was formulated as the daemonic ergotropy. In this work, we investigate the ergotropy in the presence of quantum correlation via weak measurement because of its elegant effects on the measured system. By considering a bipartite correlated quantum system consisting of main and ancillary systems, we demonstrate that the extractable work by the non-selective weak measurement on the ancilla is always equal to the situation captured by the strong measurement. However, the selective weak measurement interestingly reveals more work than the daemonic ergotropy and the ergotropy of the total system is greater than or equal to the daemonic ergotropy. Moreover, it is shown that for Bell diagonal states, at the cost of losing quantum correlation, the total extractable and thus non-local extractable works can be increased by using measurement. Also, we find that there is no direct relationship between quantum correlation and non-local extractable work for these cases.

Keywords

• Quantum thermodynamics
• Ergotropy
• Weak measurement
• Quantum correlation
• Non-local extractable work