Spectral signatures of non-thermal baths in quantum thermalization

Abstract

We show that certain coherences, termed as heat-exchange coherences, which contribute to the thermalization process of a quantum probe in a repeated interactions scheme, can modify the spectral response of the probe system. We suggest the use of the power spectrum as a way to experimentally assess the apparent temperature of non-thermal atomic clusters carrying such coherences and also prove that it is useful to measure the corresponding thermalization time of the probe, assuming some information is provided on the nature of the bath. We explore this idea in two examples in which the probe is assumed to be a single-qubit and a single-cavity field mode. Moreover, for the single-qubit case, we show how it is possible to perform a quantum simulation of resonance fluorescence using such repeated interactions scheme with clusters carrying different class of coherences.