9th SmoleQ Greeting Seminar (2025.06.18 at 17:00 (JST))
Speaker:
Paul Menczel
Title:
Full counting statistics and first-passage times in quantum Markovian processes
Abstract:
We investigate the full counting statistics and first-passage time distributions for open quantum systems governed by Markovian dynamics. These complementary approaches provide powerful tools for probing fluctuations in quantum transport and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. We derive general ensemble relations that connect the two approaches under specific conditions, and we highlight their physical implications with several applications. In regimes of metastability, long-lived intermediate states may cause apparent violations of these relations, as we discuss. We also illustrate how fluctuation theorems governing the probability of rare fluctuations in the first-passage time distributions can be formulated based on results from full counting statistics. Our general framework provides a comprehensive picture of the first-passage time statistics in Markovian quantum systems, encompassing multiple earlier results and having direct implications for current experiments in mesoscopic conductors, quantum optics, and nanoscale heat engines.