Related papers: Experimental Realization of a Minimal Microscopic …
We theoretically investigate the propagation of heat currents in a three-terminal quantum dot engine. Electron-electron interactions introduce state-dependent processes which can be resolved by energy-dependent tunneling rates. We identify…
A thermal current, generated by a temperature gradient between two reservoirs coupled to a carefully designed photonic or (micro-) electromechanical circuit, might induce non-conservative forces that impulse a mechanical degree of freedom…
Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically quite low, but much…
We study the maximum efficiency of a Carnot cycle heat engine based on a small system. It is revealed that due to the finiteness of the system, irreversibility may arise when the working substance contacts with a heat bath. As a result,…
We consider a model of a Brownian motor composed of two coupled overdamped degrees of freedom moving in periodic potentials and driven by two heat reservoirs. This model exhibits a spontaneous breaking of symmetry and gives rise to directed…
We measure the energy exchanged between two hydrodynamically coupled micron-sized Brownian particles trapped in water by two optical tweezers. The system is driven out of equilibrium by random forcing the position of one of the two…
We describe a simple numerical simulation, suitable for an undergraduate project (or graduate problem set), of the Brownian motion of a particle in a Hooke-law potential well. Understanding this physical situation is a practical necessity…
Thermal Markovian dynamics is typically obtained by coupling a system to a sufficiently hot bath with a large heat capacity. Here we present a scheme for inducing Markovian dynamics using an arbitrarily small and cold heat bath. The scheme…
A quantum dot driven by two ac gate potentials oscillating with a phase lag may be regarded as a quantum engine, where energy is transported and dissipated in the form of heat. In this chapter we introduce a microscopic model for a quantum…
Several studies have combined heat and gravitational energy exchanges to create novel heat engines. A common theoretical framework is developed here to describe thermogravitational cycles which have the same efficiencies as the Carnot,…
Engines are systems and devices that convert one form of energy into another, typically into a more useful form that can perform work. In the classical setup, physical, chemical, and biological engines largely involve the conversion of heat…
We investigate a stochastic heat engine based on an over-damped particle diffusing on the positive real axis in an externally driven time-periodic log-harmonic potential. The periodic driving is composed of two isothermal and two adiabatic…
We study a micro-magnet that interacts with a spin-polarized electric current, a heat bath, as well as a static magnetic field. The resulting non-equilibrium steady-state transports entropy between the current and the heat bath, without…
We discuss the effect of subdividing the ratchet potential on the performance of a tiny Brownian heat engine that is modeled as a Brownian particle hopping in a viscous medium in a sawtooth potential (with or without load) assisted by…
We use the general formulation of irreversible thermodynamics and study the minimally nonlinear irreversible model of heat engines operating between a time-varying hot heat source of finite size and a cold heat reservoir of infinite size.…
One of the major challenges in stochastic thermodynamics is to compute the distributions of stochastic observables for small-scale systems for which fluctuations play a significant role. Hitherto much theoretical and experimental research…
We apply advanced methods of control theory to open quantum systems and we determine finite-time processes which are optimal with respect to thermodynamic performances. General properties and necessary conditions characterizing optimal…
Quantum thermodynamics addresses the dynamics of heat flow in quantum devices driven out of equilibrium. Although mesoscopic circuits at low temperatures provide a flexible platform to explore this dynamics, experimental studies are wanting…
We investigate the quantum thermodynamic cycle of a quantum heat engine carrying out an Otto thermodynamic cycle. We use the thermal properties of a moving heat bath with relativistic velocity with respect to the cold bath. As a working…
We study heat rectification in a minimalistic model composed of two masses subjected to on-site and coupling linear forces in contact with effective Langevin baths induced by laser interactions. Analytic expressions of the heat currents in…