AWhat changed
Two teams developed complementary experimental routes to quantum work statistics. Batalhão and colleagues mapped a driven carbon nuclear spin’s work characteristic function onto a hydrogen-spin interferometer and reconstructed forward and backward work distributions. An and colleagues measured initial phonon statistics, prepared corresponding number states and inferred driven transitions of a trapped ytterbium ion from sideband signals. The experiments compared reconstructed work statistics with quantum fluctuation relations; the ion study reported Jarzynski estimates consistent with zero dissipated-work bias over three temperatures and three drive durations.
Scientific scope
Two teams developed complementary experimental routes to quantum work statistics. Batalhão and colleagues mapped a driven carbon nuclear spin’s work characteristic function onto a hydrogen-spin interferometer and reconstructed forward and backward work distributions. An and colleagues measured initial phonon statistics, prepared corresponding number states and inferred driven transitions of a trapped ytterbium ion from sideband signals. The experiments compared reconstructed work statistics with quantum fluctuation relations; the ion study reported Jarzynski estimates consistent with zero dissipated-work bias over three temperatures and three drive durations. The NMR experiment uses normalized signals from effective thermal spin states in a room-temperature ensemble. The ion experiment combines initial-state statistics with separately prepared number states and fitted final populations, rather than recording complete pairs of energy outcomes along every trajectory. Effective rotating-frame energies, finite-state truncation, calibration and heating enter the analysis. The NMR preprint contains unresolved formula discrepancies; the ion paper also has separate supplementary material. These are scoped experimental tests of inherited relations, not new proofs, universal work measurements or violations of the second law.
Evidence
The linked original works support the scoped statement and contribution attribution. WRS has not independently replayed experiments or reconstructed a full mathematical proof. The NMR experiment uses normalized signals from effective thermal spin states in a room-temperature ensemble. The ion experiment combines initial-state statistics with separately prepared number states and fitted final populations, rather than recording complete pairs of energy outcomes along every trajectory. Effective rotating-frame energies, finite-state truncation, calibration and heating enter the analysis. The NMR preprint contains unresolved formula discrepancies; the ion paper also has separate supplementary material. These are scoped experimental tests of inherited relations, not new proofs, universal work measurements or violations of the second law.
Contributors
- The named authors in the research record · SCIENCE: These are the listed authors of the cited contribution sources. Paper authorship does not quantify individual effort. An incomplete list is explicitly marked; same names are not automatically merged.
- Experimental reconstruction of work distribution and verification of fluctuation relations at the full quantum level (arXiv1308.3241v1)
- Experimental Test of Quantum Jarzynski Equality with a Trapped Ion System (arXiv1409.4485v2)
Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-28.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.
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