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In addition to the Riemannian metricization of the thermodynamic state space, local relaxation times offer a natural time scale, too. Generalizing existing proposals, we relate {\it thermodynamic} time scale to the standard kinetic…

Condensed Matter · Physics 2008-02-03 L. Diosi , K. Kulacsy , B. Lukacs , A. Rácz

Performing thermodynamic tasks within finite time while minimizing thermodynamic costs is a central challenge in stochastic thermodynamics. Here, we develop a unified framework for optimizing the thermodynamic cost of performing various…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-09-16 Kaito Tojo , Rihito Nagase , Ken Funo , Takahiro Sagawa

The energetic optimization problem, e.g., searching for the optimal switch- ing protocol of certain system parameters to minimize the input work, has been extensively studied by stochastic thermodynamics. In current work, we study this…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2010-01-07 Linchen Gong , Ming Li , Zhong-can Ou-yang

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 consider the problem of finding the energy minimum of a complex quantum Hamiltonian by employing a non-Markovian bath prepared in a low energy state. The energy minimization problem is thus turned into a thermodynamic cooling protocol in…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-03-29 Alberto Imparato , Nicholas Chancellor , Gabriele De Chiara

Extracting useful work from quantum systems is a fundamental problem in quantum thermodynamics. In scenarios where rapid protocols are desired -- whether due to practical constraints or deliberate design choices -- a fundamental trade-off…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-23 Shoki Sugimoto , Takahiro Sagawa , Ryusuke Hamazaki

Linear response theory has found many applications in statistical physics. One of these is to compute minimal-work protocols that drive nonequilibrium systems between different thermodynamic states, which are useful for designing engineered…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-01-19 Samuel. H. DAmbrosia , Adrianne Zhong , Michael R. DeWeese

A fundamental result of thermodynamic geometry is that the optimal, minimal-work protocol that drives a nonequilibrium system between two thermodynamic states in the slow-driving limit is given by a geodesic of the friction tensor, a…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-10-24 Adrianne Zhong , Michael R. DeWeese

We study thermodynamic processes in contact with a heat bath that may have an arbitrary time-varying periodic temperature profile. Within the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, and for models of thermo-dynamic engines in the idealized…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-04-06 Olga Movilla Miangolarra , Rui Fu , Amirhossein Taghvaei , Yongxin Chen , Tryphon T. Georgiou

Shortcuts to isothermality provide a powerful method to speed up quasistatic thermodynamic processes within finite-time manipulation. We employ the shortcut strategy to design and optimize Brownian heat engines, and formulate a geometric…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-11-04 Jin-Fu Chen

The development of efficient artificial nanodevices poses challenges which are of fundamental and technological nature. Recent progress has been made in the context of finite-time thermodynamics. A central question in finite-time…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2014-03-18 Mario Einax

The optimization of the conversion of thermal energy into work and the minimization of dissipation for nano- and mesoscopic systems is a complex challenge because of the important role fluctuations play on the dynamics of small systems. We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-09-24 Alberto Rolandi

The second law of thermodynamics sets a lower bound on the work required to drive a system between thermal equilibrium states, with equality attained in the quasistatic limit. For finite-time processes, part of the extractable work is…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-20 Masaaki Tokieda

We review recent progress in optimal control in stochastic thermodynamics. Theoretical advances provide in-depth insight into minimum-dissipation control with either full or limited (parametric) control, and spanning the limits from slow to…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-04-13 Steven Blaber , David A. Sivak

We reassess the concept of transition at minimum work in classical stochastic finite-time thermodynamics, when the system dynamics is modelled by a diffusion process. We show that a well-posed formulation of the optimal control problem…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-03-13 Paolo Muratore-Ginanneschi , Julia Sanders

The pursuit of achieving the maximum power in microscopic thermal engines has gained increasing attention in recent studies of stochastic thermodynamics. We employ the optimal control theory to study the performance of Brownian heat engines…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-10-31 Jin-Fu Chen , H. T. Quan

We present a method to design driving protocols that achieve fast thermal equilibration of a system of interest using techniques inspired by machine learning training algorithms. For example, consider a Brownian particle manipulated by…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-06-25 Diego Rengifo , Gabriel Téllez

A thermal analogue of the classical brachistochrone problem, which minimizes the connection time between two equilibrium states of harmonically confined Brownian particles, has recently been solved theoretically. Here we report its…

Stochastic thermodynamics lays down a broad framework to revisit the venerable concepts of heat, work and entropy production for individual stochastic trajectories of mesoscopic systems. Remarkably, this approach, relying on stochastic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-01-31 David Guéry-Odelin , Christopher Jarzynski , Carlos A. Plata , Antonio Prados , Emmanuel Trizac

Differential geometry offers a powerful framework for optimising and characterising finite-time thermodynamic processes, both classical and quantum. Here, we start by a pedagogical introduction to the notion of thermodynamic length. We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-08-31 Paolo Abiuso , Harry J. D. Miller , Martí Perarnau-Llobet , Matteo Scandi