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We quantify the prior information to infer the optimal characteristics for a constrained thermodynamic process of maximum work extraction for a pair of non-identical finite systems. The total entropy of the whole system remains conserved.…
We examine when it is possible to locally extract energy from a bipartite quantum system in the presence of strong coupling and entanglement, a task which is expected to be restricted by entanglement in the low-energy eigenstates. We fully…
The emergence of irreversibility in physical processes, despite the fundamentally reversible nature of quantum mechanics, remains an open question in physics. This thesis explores the intricate relationship between quantum mechanics and…
We derive a bound on the efficiency of thermal engines that can be sharper than Carnot's limit. It is a function of statistical correlations between the engine internal state and Hamiltonian, can be saturated even in finite-time cycles, and…
We investigate the motion of a colloidal particle driven out of equilibrium by an external torque. We use the molecular dynamics simulation that is alternative to the numerical integration approach based on the Langevin equation and is…
Producing useful electrical work in consuming chemical energy, the fuel cell have to reject heat to its surrounding. However, as it occurs for any other type of engine, this thermal energy cannot be exchanged in an isothermal way in finite…
Maximization of the path information entropy is a clear prescription for constructing models in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Here it is shown that, following this prescription under the assumption of arbitrary instantaneous…
We construct an example of heat engine whose efficiency at maximum power breaks down the previously derived bounds in the linear response regime. Such example takes a classical harmonic oscillator as the working substance undergoing a…
We study driven systems with possible population inversion and we give optimal bounds on the relative occupations in terms of released heat. A precise meaning to Landauer's blowtorch theorem (1975) is obtained stating that nonequilibrium…
In this paper, we present a Lagrangian formalism for nonequilibrium thermodynamics. This formalism is an extension of the Hamilton principle in classical mechanics that allows the inclusion of irreversible phenomena in both discrete and…
We study the thermodynamic cost associated with the erasure of one bit of information over a finite amount of time. We present a general framework for minimizing the average work required when full control of a system's microstates is…
Finite-time quantum heat engines (QHEs) typically extract less work than their quasistatic counterparts because fast driving generates coherences and non-adiabatic transitions during the work strokes, a phenomenon commonly referred to as…
With the progress of nano-technology, thermodynamics also has to be scaled down, calling for specific protocols to extract and measure work. Usually, such protocols involve the action of an external, classical field (the battery) of…
Energy consumption optimization of a two-link planar robotic arm is considered with the system's efficiency being the target for optimization. A new formulation of thermodynamic principles within the framework of dynamical systems is used.…
Thermodynamics teaches that if a system initially off-equilibrium is coupled to work sources, the maximum work that it may yield is governed by its energy and entropy. For finite systems this bound is usually not reachable. The maximum…
We derive an equality for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in finite-dimensional quantum systems. The equality concerns the worst-case work output of a time-dependent Hamiltonian protocol in the presence of a Markovian heat bath. It…
A dynamical model of a highly efficient heat engine is proposed, where an applied temperature difference maintains the motion of particles around the circuit consisting of two asymmetric narrow channels, in one of which the current flows…
We experimentally realize protocols that allow to extract work beyond the free energy difference from a single electron transistor at the single thermodynamic trajectory level. With two carefully designed out-of-equilibrium driving cycles…
Thermodynamic cycles are idealized processes that can convert heat into work or produce heat flow against a temperature gradient with the input of work. They remain an active area of research in modern stochastic thermodynamics. In…
The Higgs RNA-Model is studied in regard to finite-time driving protocols with minimal-work requirement. In this paper, RNA sequences which at low temperature exhibits hairpins are considered, which are often cited as typical template…