We address the problem of heat transport in a chain of coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, exposed to the influences of local environments of various nature, stressing the effects that the specific nature of the environment has on the phenomenology of the transport process. We study in detail the behavior of thermodynamically relevant quantities such as heat currents and mean energies of the oscillators, establishing rigorous analytical conditions for the existence of a steady state, whose features we analyze carefully. In particular, we assess the conditions that should be faced to recover trends reminiscent of the classical Fourier law of heat conduction and highlight how such a possibility depends on the environment linked to our system.

We analyze the semiclassical evolution of Gaussian wave packets in chaotic systems. We show that after some short time a Gaussian wave packet becomes a primitive WKB state. From then on, the state can be propagated using the standard time-dependent WKB scheme. Complex trajectories are not necessary to account for the long-time propagation. The Wigner function of the evolving state develops the structure of a classical filament plus quantum oscillations, with phase and amplitude being determined by geometric properties of a classical manifold.

We analyze generalized Gaussian cat states obtained by superposing arbitrary Gaussian states, e.g., a coherent state and a squeezed state. The Wigner functions of such states exhibit the typical pair of Gaussian hills plus an interference term which presents a novel structure, as compared with the standard superposition of coherent states (degenerate case). We prove that, in any dimensions, the structure of the interference term is characterized by a particular quadratic form; in one degree of freedom the phase is hyperbolic. This phase-space structure survives the action of a thermal reservoir. We also discuss certain superpositions of mixed Gaussian states generated by conditional Gaussian operations or Kerr-type dynamics on thermal states.

We establish tight upper and lower bounds for the Entanglement of Formation of an arbitrary two-mode Gaussian state employing the necessary properties of Gaussian channels. Both bounds are strictly given by the Entanglement of Formation of symmetric Gaussian states, which are simply constructed from the reduced states obtained by partial trace of the original one.

Considering stationary states of continuous-variable systems undergoing an open dynamics, we unveil the connection between properties and symmetries of the latter and the dynamical parameters. In particular, we explore the relation between the Lyapunov equation for dynamical systems and the steady-state solutions of a timeindependent Lindblad master equation for bosonic modes. Exploiting bona-fide relations that characterize some genuine quantum properties (entanglement, classicality, and steerability), we obtain conditions on the dynamical parameters for which the system is driven to a steady-state possessing such properties. We also develop a method to capture the symmetries of a steady-state based on symmetries of the Lyapunov equation. All the results and examples can be useful for steady-state engineering processes.