Nonunique Decompositions of Mixed States and Deterministic Energy Transfers

A research team led by Professor Oscar Dahlsten from the Department of Physics at CityUHK, set out to prove a theoretical limitation, only to discover a novel quantum solution. This surprise breakthrough breaks traditional physical constraints and introduces an innovative strategy for harvesting energy from fluctuating sources. The study shows that a distinctive feature of quantum theory, known as the non-unique decomposition of mixed states, can enable deterministic energy harvesting, allowing energy to be transferred from a source to a harvester without a corresponding transfer of entropy.