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We consider a quantum engine driven by repeated weak interactions with a heat bath of identical three-level atoms. This model was first introduced by Scully et al. [Science, 2003], who showed that coherence between the energy-degenerate…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-09-25 Thomas Guff , Shakib Daryanoosh , Ben Q. Baragiola , Alexei Gilchrist

In systems described by the scattering theory, there is an upper bound, lower than Carnot, on the efficiency of steady-state heat to work conversion at a given output power. We show that interacting systems can overcome such bound and…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-08-27 Rongxiang Luo , Giuliano Benenti , Giulio Casati , Jiao Wang

We evaluate the efficiency at maximum power of a quantum-dot Carnot heat engine. The universal value of the coefficients at the linear and quadratic order in the temperature gradient are reproduced. Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency is recovered in…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-14 Massimiliano Esposito , Ryoichi Kawai , Katja Lindenberg , Christian Van den Broeck

The availability of controllable macroscopic devices, which maintain quantum coherence over relatively long time intervals, for the first time allows an experimental realization of many effects previously considered only as…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-08-05 A. M. Zagoskin , S. Savel'ev , Franco Nori , F. V. Kusmartsev

Abstract We perform an experiment in which a quantum heat engine works under two reservoirs, one at a positive spin temperature and the other at an effective negative spin temperature i.e., when the spin system presents population…

The heat engine, a machine that extracts useful work from thermal sources, is one of the basic theoretical constructs and fundamental applications of classical thermodynamics. The classical description of a heat engine does not include…

It is known that an engine with ideal efficiency ($\eta =1$ for a chemical engine and $e = e_{\rm Carnot}$ for a thermal one) has zero power because a reversible cycle takes an infinite time. However, at least from a theoretical point of…

Chemical Physics · Physics 2016-11-22 Jesper Koning , Joseph O. Indekeu

Heat is a physical manifestation of entropy, where the removal of entropy from a thermal energy reservoir permits the conversion of heat into work. This entropy transfer is facilitated by the cold thermal energy reservoir in typical heat…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-12 Liam Judd McClelland

Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and refrigerators up to the level of a single few level system coupled to the environment. Once the environment is split into three;a hot, cold and work…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-04-17 Ronnie Kosloff , Amikam Levy

Relativistic thermal devices offer a unique platform for understanding the interplay between motion, quantum fields, and thermodynamics, revealing phenomena inaccessible to stationary systems. We consider a two-qubit SWAP heat engine whose…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-08-18 Dimitris Moustos , Obinna Abah

An analysis of efficiency and its bounds at maximum work output for Carnot-like heat engines is conducted. The heat transfer processes are described by the linear law with time-dependent heat conductance. The upper bound of efficiency is…

Classical Physics · Physics 2014-06-04 Rui Long , Wei Liu

Optimizing the performance of thermal machines is an essential task of thermodynamics. We here consider the optimization of information engines that convert information about the state of a system into work. We concretely introduce a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-06-28 Paul Fadler , Alexander Friedenberger , Eric Lutz

We propose a new form of the Second Law inequality that defines a tight bound for extractable work from the non-equilibrium quantum state. In classical thermodynamics, the optimal work is given by the difference of free energy, what…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-02-14 Marcin Łobejko

We analyze the performance of slowly driven meso- and micro-scale refrigerators and heat engines that operate between two thermal baths with small temperature difference. Using a general scaling argument, we show that such devices can work…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-06-01 Joshua Eglinton , Kay Brandner

When a reciprocating heat engine is started it eventually settles to a stable mode of operation. The approach of a first principle quantum heat engine toward this stable limit cycle is studied. The engine is based on a working medium…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-09-08 Tova Feldmann , Ronnie Kosloff

The efficiency at maximum power (EMP) of irreversible Carnot-like heat engines is investigated based on the weak endoreversible assumption and the phenomenologically irreversible thermodynamics. It is found that the weak endoreversible…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2012-05-08 Yang Wang , Z. C. Tu

We present an optimal analysis for a quantum mechanical engine working between two energy baths within the framework of relativistic quantum mechanics, adopting a first-order correction. This quantum mechanical engine, with the direct…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2016-10-04 Francisco J. Peña , Michel Ferré , Pedro Orellana René G. Rojas , P. Vargas

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system is non-decreasing. Discussing the Second Law in the quantum world poses new challenges and provides new opportunities, involving fundamental…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-12-01 A. V. Lebedev , D. Oehri , G. B. Lesovik , G. Blatter

Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-27 Alberto Brollo , Adolfo del Campo , Alvise Bastianello

We present the exact theory of quantum engines whose working medium is a network of driven oscillators performing an arbitrary cyclic process while coupled to thermal and nonthermal reservoirs. We show that when coupled to a single…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-04-29 Milton Aguilar , Juan Pablo Paz