Quantumness of correlations in nanomaterials—experimental evidence and unconventional effects

Quantum correlations phenomena, such as entanglement, quantum discord and quantum coherence, are ubiquitous effects caused by interactions between physical systems—such as electrons and ions in a piece of metal, or H atoms/molecules adsorbed in nanoporous materials. Here, we address time-asymmetric quantumness of correlations (QoC), with particular emphasis on their energetic consequences for dynamics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics in condensed matter and/or many-body systems. Some known theoretical models—for example, the quantum Zeno effect and GKSL-type Markovian equations-of-motion, all of them being time-asymmetric—are shortly considered, with emphasis on the general character of one of their common and most intriguing result. Namely, that in clear contradistinction to conventional expectations, degradation (or destruction, decoherence, consumption, smearing out, coarse-graining) of quantum correlations can be a source of work (instead of heat production). The experimental relevance of the theoretical considerations is shown with the aid of a recent scattering experiment exploring the impulsively driven (by neutron collisions) translational dynamics of H ${}_2$ molecules in carbon nanotubes and other nanostructured materials—a topic of immediate relevance for material sciences and related technologies.