Related papers: Exploring the operation of a tiny heat engine

Heat engines and information engines have each historically served as motivating examples for the development of thermodynamics. While these two types of systems are typically thought of as two separate kinds of machines, recent empirical…

A heat engine operating in the one-shot finite-size regime, where systems composed of a small number of quantum particles interact with hot and cold baths and are restricted to one-shot measurements, delivers fluctuating work. Further,…

This work focuses on the response to an external field of a Brownian particle submerged in an Ohmic quantum thermal bath. The field only affects the dynamics of the central particle without affecting the thermal reservoir. The thermodynamic…

We study the maximum efficiency of a Carnot cycle heat engine based on a small system. It is revealed that due to the finiteness of the system, irreversibility may arise when the working substance contacts with a heat bath. As a result,…

Emergence, optimization and stability of a motor-like motion in a fluctuating environment are analyzed. The emergence of motion is shown to be a general phenomenon. A motor converges to the state with the minimum of effective temperature…

We retrospect three abstract models for heat engines which include a classic abstract model in textbook of thermal physics, a primary abstract model for finite-time heat engines, and a refined abstract model for finite-time heat engines.…

The statistical mechanical description of small systems staying in thermal equilibrium with an environment can be achieved by means of the Hamiltonian of mean force. In contrast to the reduced density matrix of an open quantum system, or…

We revisit the effective parameter description of hot Brownian motion -- a scenario where a colloidal particle is kept at an elevated temperature than the ambient fluid. Due to the time scale separation between heat diffusion and particle…

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…

When a reciprocating heat engine is started it eventually settles to a stable mode of operation. The approach of a first principle quantum heat engine toward this stable limit cycle is studied. The engine is based on a working medium…

The Dicke-Hubbard model, describing an ensemble of interacting atoms in a cavity, provides a rich platform for exploring collective quantum phenomena. However, its potential for quantum thermodynamic applications remains largely uncharted.…

We define a deterministic ``scattering'' model for heat conduction which is continuous in space, and which has a Boltzmann type flavor, obtained by a closure based on memory loss between collisions. We prove that this model has, for…

Modern technologies could soon make it possible to investigate the operation cycles of quantum heat engines by counting the photons that are emitted and absorbed by their working systems. Using the quantum jump approach to open-system…

We investigate the thermodynamics of simple (non-interacting) transport models beyond the scope of weak coupling. For a single fermionic or bosonic level -- tunnel-coupled to two reservoirs -- exact expressions for the stationary matter and…

We explore the dependence of the performance bounds of heat engines and refrigerators on the initial quantum state and the subsequent evolution of their piston, modeled by a quantized harmonic oscillator. Our goal is to provide a fully…

Designing a miniature microscale engine that can override the role of thermal fluctuations has remained elusive and is an important open challenge. Here we provide the design and theoretical framework for a unique information-based engine -…

We use the general formulation of irreversible thermodynamics and study the minimally nonlinear irreversible model of heat engines operating between a time-varying hot heat source of finite size and a cold heat reservoir of infinite size.…

Collective effects have attracted remarkable recent interest, not only for their presence in several systems in nature but also for the possibility of being used for the construction of efficient engine setups. Notwithstanding, little is…

A quantum dot driven by two ac gate potentials oscillating with a phase lag may be regarded as a quantum engine, where energy is transported and dissipated in the form of heat. In this chapter we introduce a microscopic model for a quantum…

Heat engines are fundamental physical objects to develop nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The thermodynamic performance of the heat engine is determined by the choice of cycle and time-dependence of parameters. Here, we propose a systematic…