Related papers: Work needed to drive a thermodynamic system betwee…
In the derivation of the thermodynamics of overdamped systems, one ignores the kinetic energy contribution, since the velocity is a slow variable. In this paper, we show that the kinetic energy needs to be present in the calculation of the…
Chemically active droplets provide simple models for cell-like systems that can grow and divide. Such active droplet systems are driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium and turn over chemically, which corresponds to a simple metabolism.…
We investigate the problem of minimizing the entropy production for a physical process that can be described in terms of a Markov jump dynamics. We show that, without any further constraints, a given time-evolution may be realized at…
We investigate the dynamics of ergotropy in open systems under Markovian and non-Markovian evolutions. In this scenario, we begin by formulating the ergotropy of an arbitrary qubit state in terms of energy and coherence. Thus, we determine…
Conventional heat engines typically require two distinct thermal reservoirs, with their efficiency strictly bounded by the Carnot limit. We present a theoretical design for a phase-change heat engine that utilizes water as the working fluid…
The thermodynamic behavior of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems in finite-time dynamics encompasses the description of energy fluctuations, which dictates a series of system's physical properties. In addition, strong interactions in…
The concept of thermal machines has evolved from the canonical steam engine to the recently proposed nanoscopic quantum systems as working fluids. The latter obey quantum open system dynamics and frequently operate in non-equilibrium…
A recently developed approach to the thermodynamics of open quantum systems, on the basis of the principle of minimal dissipation, is applied to the spin-boson model. Employing a numerically exact quantum dynamical treatment based on the…
The study of thermal heat engines was pivotal to establishing the principles of equilibrium thermodynamics, with implications far wider than only engine optimization. For nonequilibrium systems, which by definition dissipate energy even at…
Thermodynamic cost of communication is a major factor in the thermodynamic cost of real-world computers, both biological and digital. Despite its importance, the fundamental principles underlying this cost remain poorly understood. This…
By computing the local energy expectation values with respect to some local measurement basis we show that for any quantum system there are two fundamentally different contributions: changes in energy that do not alter the local von Neumann…
We study the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a heat engine operating between two finite-sized reservoirs with well-defined temperatures. Within the linear response regime, it is found that the uniform temperature of the two reservoirs at…
Thermodynamics and information have intricate inter-relations. The justification of the fact that information is physical, is done by inter-linking information and thermodynamics - through Landauer's principle. This modern approach towards…
We obtain macroscopic isothermal thermodynamic transformations by space-time scalings of a microscopic Hamiltonian dynamics in contact with a heat bath. The microscopic dynamics is given by a chain of anharmonic oscillators subject to a…
The nature of the behaviour of an isolated many-body quantum system periodically driven in time has been an open question since the beginning of quantum mechanics. After an initial transient, such a system is known to synchronize with the…
Many organisms capitalize on their ability to predict the environment to maximize available free energy, and reinvest this energy to create new complex structures. This functionality relies on the manipulation of patterns - temporally…
We study microscopic engines that use a single active particle as their "working medium". Part of the energy required to drive the directed motion of the particle can be recovered as work, even at constant temperature. A wide class of…
Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of a system situated in a sustained environment with influx and efflux is usually treated as a subsystem in a larger, closed "universe". It remains a question what the minimally required description for the…
Maximizing the amount of work harvested from an environment is important for a wide variety of biological and technological processes, from energy-harvesting processes such as photosynthesisto energy storage systems such as fuels and…
Unitary processes allow for the transfer of work to and from Hamiltonian systems. However, to achieve nonzero power for the practical extraction of work, these processes must be performed within a finite time, which inevitably induces…