For years, physicists have treated knowledge as a kind of fuel in the quantum world, the more precisely you know a system; the more work you can squeeze out of it.
However, this well-regarded assumption has now taken a hit. In a new study, researchers show that even complete uncertainty about a quantum state doesn’t stop you from extracting its full usable energy—at least when you have many copies of it.
This challenges a deeply practical problem in quantum thermodynamics, where measuring a system precisely is often so resource-intensive that it defeats the purpose. “Evaluating the maximum amount of work extractable from a nanoscale quantum system is one of the central problems in quantum thermodynamics,” the study authors note.
The study suggests a surprising shortcut, i.e., under the right conditions, you can skip the costly step of learning the system and still get everything out of it.
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