Related papers: Extracting work from a single heat bath through fe…
Our goal in this article is to elucidate the rapport of work and information in the context of a minimal quantum mechanical setup: A converter of heat input to work output, the input consisting of a single oscillator mode prepared in a hot…
A suitable way of quantifying work for microscopic quantum systems has been constantly debated in the field of quantum thermodynamics. One natural approach is to measure the average increase in energy of an ancillary system, called the…
Quantum oscillators prepared out of thermal equilibrium can be used to produce work and transmit information. By intensive cooling of a single oscillator, its thermal energy deterministically dissipates to a colder environment, and the…
Optimal (reversible) processes in thermodynamics can be modelled as step-by-step processes, where the system is successively thermalized with respect to different Hamiltonians by an external thermal bath. However, in practice interactions…
We present a critical examination of the difficulties with the quantum versions of a lifted weight that are widely used as work storage systems in quantum thermodynamics. To overcome those difficulties, we turn to the strong connections…
In many real-world situations, there are constraints on the ways in which a physical system can be manipulated. We investigate the entropy production (EP) and extractable work involved in bringing a system from some initial distribution $p$…
We revisit the classic thermodynamic problem of maximum work extraction from two arbitrary sized hot and cold reservoirs, modelled as perfect gases. Assuming ignorance about the extent to which the process has advanced, which implies an…
Thermodynamic behaviors in a quantum Brownian motion coupled to a classical heat bath is studied. We then define a heat operator by generalizing the stochastic energetics and show the energy balance (first law) and the upper bound of the…
The formalism of Kundu et al. [J. Stat. Mech. (2011) P03007], for computing the large deviations of heat flow in harmonic systems, is applied to the case of single Brownian particle in a harmonic trap and coupled to two heat baths at…
We derive a bound on the efficiency of thermal engines that can be sharper than Carnot's limit. It is a function of statistical correlations between the engine internal state and Hamiltonian, can be saturated even in finite-time cycles, and…
Feedback control uses the state information of the system to actuate on it. The information used implies an effective entropy reduction of the controlled system, potentially increasing its performance. How to compute this entropy reduction…
We consider an isothermal machine composed of two Brownian particles (say particle A and B) connected by a harmonic spring. A constant load is attached to particle A, and the particle B is trapped in a harmonic confinement whose minimum is…
When do non-equilibrium forms of disordered energy qualify as heat? \textcolor{blue}{We address this question in the context of cyclically operating heat engines in contact with a non-equilibrium energy reservoir that defies the zeroth law…
The second law of thermodynamics uses change in free energy of macroscopic systems to set a bound on performed work. Ergotropy plays a similar role in microscopic scenarios, and is defined as the maximum amount of energy that can be…
We report on a lossless information engine that converts nearly all available information from an error-free feedback protocol into mechanical work. Combining high-precision detection at resolution of 1 nm with ultrafast feedback control,…
Thermodynamic quantities, like heat, entropy, or work, are random variables, in stochastic systems. Here, we investigate the statistics of the heat exchanged by a Brownian particle subjected to a logarithm-harmonic potential. We derive…
Work extraction from a heat engine in a cycle by a quantum mechanical device (quantum "piston") is analyzed. The standard definition of work fails in the quantum domain. The correct extractable work and its efficiency bound are shown to…
Fluctuation theorems impose fundamental bounds in the statistics of the entropy production, with the second law of thermodynamics being the most famous. Using information theory, we quantify the information of entropy production and find an…
We study the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of single Brownian macromolecules immersed in water solvent. They are under both a hydrodynamic interaction and a feedback control on their movement by an external agent. The macromolecules are…
We consider the amount of work which can be extracted from a heat bath using a bipartite state shared by two parties. In general it is less then the amount of work extractable when one party is in possession of the entire state. We derive…