We construct a quantum Markovian master equation for a driven system coupled to a thermal bath. The derivation utilizes an explicit solution of the propagator of the driven system. This enables the validity of the master equation to be extended beyond the adiabatic limit. The nonadiabatic master equation (NAME) is derived employing the weak system-bath coupling limit. The NAME is valid when a separation of timescales exists between the bath dynamics and the external driving. In contrast to the adiabatic master equation, the NAME leads to coupled equations of motion for the population and coherence. We employ the NAME to solve the example of an open driven time-dependent harmonic oscillator. For the harmonic oscillator the NAME predicts the emergence of coherence associated with the dissipation term. As a result of the nonadiabatic driving the thermalization rate is suppressed. The solution is compared with both numerical calculations and the adiabatic master equation.

We present a procedure to accelerate the relaxation of an open quantum system towards its equilibrium state. The control protocol, termed the shortcut to equilibration, is obtained by reverse-engineering the nonadiabatic master equation. This is a nonunitary control task aimed at rapidly changing the entropy of the system. Such a protocol serves as a shortcut to an abrupt change in the Hamiltonian, i.e., a quench. As an example, we study the thermalization of a particle in a harmonic well. We observe that for short protocols the accuracy improves by 3 orders of magnitude.

The Carnot cycle combines reversible isothermal and adiabatic strokes to obtain optimal efficiency, at the expense of a vanishing power output. Quantum Carnot-analog cycles are constructed and solved, operating irreversibly with positive power. Swift thermalization is obtained in the isotherms utilizing shortcut to equilibrium protocols and the adiabats employ frictionless unitary shortcuts. The working medium in this study is composed of a particle in a driven harmonic trap. For this system, we solve the dynamics employing a generalized canonical state. Such a description incorporates both changes in energy and coherence. This allows comparing three types of Carnot-analog cycles, Carnot-shortcut, Endo-shortcut and Endo-global. The Carnot-shortcut engine demonstrates the trade-off between power and efficiency. It posses a maximum in power, a minimum cycle-time where it becomes a dissipator and for a diverging cycle-time approaches the ideal Carnot efficiency. The irreversibility of the cycle arises from non-adiabatic driving, which generates coherence. To study the role of coherence we compare the performance of the shortcut cycles, where coherence is limited to the interior of the strokes, with the Endo-global cycle where the coherence never vanishes. The Endo-global engine exhibits a quantum signature at a short cycle-time, manifested by a positive power output while the shortcut cycles become dissipators. If energy is monitored the back action of the measurement causes dephasing and the power terminates.

Thermodynamics entails a set of mathematical conditions on quantum Markovian dynamics. In particular, strict energy conservation between the system and environment implies that the dissipative dynamical map commutes with the map of the system's unitary evolution. Employing spectral analysis, we prove the general form of the ensuing master equation. The obtained structure extends thermodynamical considerations to dynamical processes. Comparing this form with master equations obtained from microscopic derivations allows validating their compatibility with thermodynamics. It predicts that coherence is not generated spontaneously under steady-state transport. Moreover, for a bipartite system-environment it singles out the global master equation as the thermodynamically compatible choice for nondriven systems, as well as supplying insight into the validity of the secular approximation.

Incorporating time into thermodynamics allows for addressing the tradeoff between efficiency and power. A qubit engine serves as a toy model in order to study this tradeoff from first principles, based on the quantum theory of open systems. We study the quantum origin of irreversibility, originating from heat transport, quantum friction, and thermalization in the presence of external driving. We construct various finite-time engine cycles that are based on the Otto and Carnot templates. Our analysis highlights the role of coherence and the quantum origin of entropy production.

Control of open quantum systems is essential for the realization of contemporary quantum science and technology. We demonstrate such control using a thermodynamically consistent framework, taking into account the fact that the drive can modify the system’s interaction with the environment. Such an effect is incorporated within the dynamical equation, leading to control-dependent dissipation. This relation serves as the key element for open-system control. The control paradigm is displayed by analyzing entropy-changing state-to-state transformations, such as heating and cooling. The difficult task of controlling quantum gates is achieved for nonunitary reset maps with complete memory loss. In addition, we identify a mechanism for controlling unitary gates by actively removing entropy from the system to the environment. We demonstrate a universal set of single- and double-qubit unitary gates under dissipation.