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In this paper, we describe a constrained Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism for the optimal control of nonholonomic mechanical systems. In particular, we aim to minimize a cost functional, given initial and final conditions where the…
Jarzynski's equality sets a strong bound on the probability of violating the second law of thermodynamics by extracting work beyond the free energy difference. We derive finite-time refinements to this bound for driven systems in contact…
The conversion of thermal energy into work is usually more efficient in the slow-driving regime, where the power output is vanishingly small. Efficient work extraction for fast driving protocols remains an outstanding challenge at the…
We propose a housekeeping/excess decomposition of entropy production for general nonlinear dynamics in a discrete space, including chemical reaction networks and discrete stochastic systems. We exploit the geometric structure of…
We revisit the optimal performance of a thermoelectric generator within the endoreversible approximation, while imposing a finite physical dimensions constraint (FPDC) in the form of a fixed total area of the heat exchangers. Our analysis…
In the real world, one almost never knows the parameters of a thermodynamic process to infinite precision. Reflecting this, here we investigate how to extend stochastic thermodynamics to systems with uncertain parameters, including…
We study a class of cyclic Brownian heat engines in the framework of finite-time thermodynamics. For infinitely long cycle times, the engine works at the Carnot efficiency limit producing, however, zero power. For the efficiency at maximum…
A long standing open problem whether a heat engine with finite power achieves the Carnot efficiency is investigated. We rigorously prove a general trade-off inequality on thermodynamic efficiency and time interval of a cyclic process with…
We study the behavior of a single spin in the presence of a time-varying magnetic field utilizing Glauber dynamics. We engineer the system to function as an engine by changing the magnetic field according to specific protocols.…
Thermodynamics connects our knowledge of the world to our capability to manipulate and thus to control it. This crucial role of control is exemplified by the third law of thermodynamics, Nernst's unattainability principle, which states that…
Fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities become non-negligible and play an important role when the system size is small. We develop finite-time thermodynamics of fluctuations in microscopic heat engines whose environmental temperature and…
We analyze the efficiency of thermal engines (either quantum or classical) working with a single heat reservoir like atmosphere. The engine first gets an energy intake, which can be done in arbitrary non-equilibrium way e.g. combustion of…
Colloidal heat engines extract power out of a fluctuating bath by manipulating a confined tracer. Considering a self-propelled tracer surrounded by a bath of passive colloids, we optimize the engine performances based on the maximum…
Collisional Brownian engines have recently gained attention as alternatives to conventional nanoscale engines. However, a comprehensive optimization of their performance, which could serve as a benchmark for future engine designs, is still…
A new fully kinetic system is proposed for modeling collisionless magnetic reconnection. The formulation relies on fundamental principles in Lagrangian dynamics, in which the inertia of the electron mean flow is neglected in the expression…
Stochastically switching force terms appear frequently in models of biological systems under the action of active agents such as proteins. The interaction of switching force and Brownian motion can create an "effective thermal equilibrium"…
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…
We characterize finite-time thermodynamic processes of multidimensional quadratic overdamped systems. Analytic expressions are provided for heat, work, and dissipation for any evolution of the system covariance matrix. The Bures-Wasserstein…
In this paper, we identify a class of time-varying port-Hamiltonian systems that is suitable for studying problems at the intersection of statistical mechanics and control of physical systems. Those port-Hamiltonian systems are able to…
A large number of water molecules are each placed on a lattice far apart so that they are very weakly interacting with each other and in contact with a heat bath at temperature $T$. A strong static electric field, $E_{0}$, is applied to…