Finite-time thermal refrigerator in interacting Bose-Einstein Condensates
Abstract
We study a finite-time thermodynamic refrigeration cycle realized numerically in three-dimensional, weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The setup consists of three spatially separated condensates -- system, piston, and reservoir -- coupled through time-dependent potential barriers that implement compression, expansion, and contact strokes. Finite-temperature initial states are generated with the Stochastic Ginzburg-Landau equation, and the subsequent dynamics are evolved using the truncated Gross-Pitaevskii equation. To measure temperatures we use a momentum-space thermometry method that provides estimates for each condensate. We find that despite mass transfer and sound excitations, the protocol achieves successful cooling during consecutive cycles: the first cycle lowers its temperature by ~20%, and a second cycle yields additional, though reduced, cooling, reaching a final ~27% cooling from the initial state. Our results show that interacting BECs can sustain finite-time quantum thermal cycles under realistic conditions, and provide a platform for exploring different refrigeration schemes, optimized control protocols, and shortcuts to adiabaticity.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.23074,
title = {Finite-time thermal refrigerator in interacting Bose-Einstein Condensates},
author = {Joaquín I. Ganly and Julián Amette Estrada and Franco Mayo and Augusto J. Roncaglia and Pablo D. Mininni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.23074},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
9 pages, 7 figures