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We investigate the thermodynamic efficiency of sub-micro-scale heat engines operating under the conditions described by over-damped stochastic thermodynamics. We prove that at maximum power the efficiency obeys for constant isotropic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-11-05 Paolo Muratore-Ginanneschi , Kay Schwieger

This work obtains the efficiency at maximum power for a stochastic heat engine performing Carnot-like, Stirling-like and Ericsson-like cycles. For the mesoscopic engine a Brownian particle trapped by an optical tweezers is considered. The…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-08-02 O. Contreras-Vergara , N. Sánchez-Salas , G. Valencia-Ortega , J. I. Jiménez-Aquino

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-10-19 Tanmoy Biswas , Marcin Łobejko , Paweł Mazurek , Konrad Jałowiecki , Michał Horodecki

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

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

Mesoscopic thermoelectric heat engine is much anticipated as a device that allows us to utilize with high efficiency wasted heat inaccessible by conventional heat engines. However, the derivation of the heat current in this engine seems to…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-11-24 Kaoru Yamamoto , Naomichi Hatano

The Carnot cycle is a prototype of ideal heat engine to draw mechanical energy from the heat flux between two thermal baths with the maximum efficiency, dubbed as the Carnot efficiency $\eta_{\mathrm{C}}$. Such efficiency can only be…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-06-22 Ruo-Xun Zhai , Fang-Ming Cui , Yu-Han Ma , C. P. Sun , Hui Dong

Recent advances in experimental control of colloidal systems have spurred a revolution in the production of mesoscale thermodynamic devices. Functional "textbook" engines, such as the Stirling and Carnot cycles, have been produced in…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-06-15 Adam G. Frim , Michael R. DeWeese

There is intense effort into understanding the universal properties of finite-time models of thermal machines---at optimal performance---such as efficiency at maximum power, coefficient of performance at maximum cooling power, and other…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-05-23 Ramandeep S. Johal

We derive optimal-work finite time protocols for a colloidal particle in a Gaussian well in the general non-Markovian underdamped regime in contact with a single reservoir. Optimal work protocols with and without measurements of position…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-05-08 Oscar Paredes-Altuve , Ernesto Medina , Pedro J. Colmenares

Transferring a physical system from an initial to a final state while minimizing energetic losses is an interdisciplinary control problem that bridges stochastic thermodynamics and optimal transport theory. Recent research typically…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-02-23 Jann van der Meer , Andreas Dechant

Optimal transport theory, originally developed in the 18th century for civil engineering, has since become a powerful optimization framework across disciplines, from generative AI to cell biology. In physics, it has recently been shown to…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-12-02 Shingo Oikawa , Yohei Nakayama , Sosuke Ito , Takahiro Sagawa , Shoichi Toyabe

Stochastic thermodynamics as reviewed here systematically provides a framework for extending the notions of classical thermodynamics like work, heat and entropy production to the level of individual trajectories of well-defined…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-06-05 Udo Seifert

Optimal processes in stochastic thermodynamics are a frontier for understanding the control and design of non-equilibrium systems, with broad practical applications in biology, chemistry, and nanoscale/mesoscale systems. Optimal mass…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-01-15 Atul Tanaji Mohite , Heiko Rieger

We study the optimal exergy efficiency and power for thermodynamic systems with Onsager-type "current-force" relationship describing the linear-response to external influences. We derive, in simple analytic forms, the maximum efficiency and…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-03-17 Jian-Hua Jiang

Some analogies between different nonequilibrium heat conduction models, particularly, random walk, discrete variable model, and Boltzmann transport equation with the single relaxation time approximation, have been discussed. We show that…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-02-21 Sergey Sobolev

For a small system like a colloidal particle or a single biomolecule embedded in a heat bath, the optimal protocol of an external control parameter minimizes the mean work required to drive the system from one given equilibrium state to…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-11-13 Tim Schmiedl , Udo Seifert

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 revisit the elementary problem of moving a particle in a harmonic trap in finite time with minimal work cost, and extend it to the case of an active particle. By comparing the Gaussian case of an Active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle and…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-07-16 Janik Schüttler , Rosalba Garcia-Millan , Michael E. Cates , Sarah A. M. Loos

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 Physics · Physics 2018-08-01 Vasco Cavina , Andrea Mari , Alberto Carlini , Vittorio Giovannetti