All Steerable Quantum Correlations Can Provide Thermodynamic Advantages in Cooling
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 110404 – Published 11 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gg3l-cghb
Abstract
The removal of heat generated during computation poses a major challenge for both classical and quantum computation and information processing. In particular, removal of this heat is intrinsically tied to one of the fundamental requirements of quantum computation—the need to reset the system to a pure state before computation. Therefore, efficient cooling is of paramount importance, not only for deepening our understanding of thermodynamics in the quantum regime but also for advancing the development of modern quantum technologies. In this Letter, we devise a cooling task that exploits steerability—a fundamental feature of quantum correlations—to demonstrate a provable quantum thermodynamic advantage over classically correlated scenarios where steerability is absent. We quantify the advantage by the ratio of the amount of heat removed using steerable (quantum) correlations to that obtained with unsteerable (classical) correlations. Specifically, we show that steerable quantum correlations always yield a thermodynamic advantage in a cooling task over their classical counterparts. Remarkably, we further establish that the maximum achievable advantage is directly related to a geometric measure of steerability called steerability robustness. Our results suggest that this thermodynamic advantage can be interpreted as a witness of steerability. Finally, we present examples in which the advantage grows with the dimension of the underlying system.
