Quantum Work Statistics from Entanglement-Assisted Invariance

Abstract

We demonstrate that the one-time measurement scheme is more consistent than the standard two-time measurement scheme with respect to the fundamental symmetry of entanglement, namely entanglement-assisted invariance (envariance). In particular, the work statistics obtained from the one-time measurement scheme arise naturally as a direct consequence of envariance for any driving unitary, without involving an explicit measurement postulate, whereas the analogous identification for the two-time measurement scheme is possible only for a Haar-measure-zero set of unitaries. This envariance-based formulation eliminates the ambiguity in work statistics related to the energetic cost of measurement.