In the context of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics, variables like work behave stochastically. A particular definition of the work probability density function (pdf) for coherent quantum processes allows the verification of the quantum version of the celebrated fluctuation theorems, due to Jarzynski and Crooks, that apply when the system is driven away from an initial equilibrium thermal state. Such a particular pdf depends basically on the details of the initial and final Hamiltonians, on the temperature of the initial thermal state, and on how some external parameter is changed during the coherent process. Using random matrix theory we derive a simple analytic expression that describes the general behavior of the work characteristic function G(u), associated with this particular work pdf for sudden quenches, valid for all the traditional Gaussian ensembles of Hamiltonians matrices. This formula well describes the general behavior of G(u) calculated from single draws of the initial and final Hamiltonians in all ranges of temperatures.

Work in isolated systems, defined by the two projective energy measurement scheme, is a random variable whose the distribution function obeys the celebrated fluctuation theorems of Crooks and Jarzynski. In this study, we provide a simple way to calculate the work distribution associated to sudden quench processes in a given class of quantum many-body systems. Due to the large Hilbert space dimension of these systems, we show that there is an energy coarse-grained description of the exact work distribution that can be constructed from two elements: the level density of the initial Hamiltonian, and the strength function, which provides information about the influence of the perturbation over the eigenvectors in the quench process. We also show how random Hamiltonian models can be helpful to find the energy coarse-grained work probability distribution and apply this approach to different spin-1/2 chain models. Our finding provides an accurate description of the work distribution of such systems in the cases of intermediate and high temperatures in both chaotic and integrable regimes.arXiv:1907.06285v1 [quant-ph]

The time evolution of the quantum kicked harmonic oscillator (KHO) is described by the Floquet operator which maps the state of the system immediately before one kick onto the state at a time immediately after the next. Quantum KHO is characterized by three parameters: the coupling strength V0, the so-called Lamb–Dicke parameter η whose square is proportional to the effective Planck constant , and the ratio T of the natural frequency of the oscillator and the kick frequency. To a given coupling strength and depending on T being a natural or irrational number, the phase space of the classical kicked oscillator can display different behaviors, as for example, stochastic webs or quasicrystal structures, thus showing a chaotic or localized behavior that is mirrored in the quantum phase space. On the other hand, the classical limit is studied letting become negligible. In this paper we investigate how the ratio T, considered as integer, rational or irrational, influences the entanglement dynamics of the quantum KHO and study how the entanglement dynamics behaves when varying either V0 or parameters.