Irreversible performance of a quantum harmonic heat engine

By Yair Rezek, Ronnie Kosloff. 2006

286 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The unavoidable irreversible loss of power in a heat engine is found to be of quantum origin. Following thermodynamic tradition, a model quantum heat engine operating in an Otto cycle is analysed, where the working medium is composed of an ensemble of harmonic oscillators and changes in volume correspond to changes in the curvature of the potential well. Equations of motion for quantum observables are derived for the complete cycle of operation. These observables are sufficient to determine the state of the system and with it all thermodynamical variables. Once the external controls are set, the engine settles to a limit cycle. Conditions for optimal work, power and entropy production are derived. At high temperatures and quasistatic operating conditions, the efficiency at maximum power coincides with the endoreversible result . The optimal compression ratio varies from in the quasistatic limit where the irreversibility is dominated by heat conductance to in the sudden limit when the irreversibility is dominated by friction. When the engine deviates from adiabatic conditions, the performance is subject to friction. The origin of this friction can be traced to the noncommutability of the kinetic and potential energy of the working medium.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f0abf74f04a5bc17b3c9e4e8f02c463d11519ac3

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In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

Citations in the corpus

The Quantum Harmonic Otto Cycle (2016, methodology): “As a result, canonical invariance with the set of operators P̂ 2 , Q̂ 2 , and D̂ = 1 2 (Q̂P̂ + P̂Q̂) prevails for the whole cycle [24].”
Introduction to Quantum Thermodynamics: History and Prospects (2018, background): “The efficiency at maximum power at high temperature becomes [93]:”
Coherence effects in the performance of the quantum Otto heat engine (2018, background): “On the one hand, some investigations have connected the coherence in quantum engines to quantum friction [41–43, 45, 48].”
Quantum thermodynamics (2015, background): “In [168,206], the authors consider the power of Otto cycles in various regimes, and derive the steady-state efficiency”
Thermodynamics of quantum systems under dynamical control (2015, background): “Most of the quantum heat machine models that have been recently proposed and studied (Abah et al., 2012; Alicki, 1979; Alicki et al., 2004; Allahverdyan et al., 2008; Allahverdyan and Nieuwenhuizen, 2005; Bender et al., 2000, 2002; Blickle and Bechinger, 2011; Van den Broeck, 2005; Campisi et al., 2”
Quantum supremacy of many-particle thermal machines (2015, methodology): “As a result, we recognize the leading term in η ) sq , independent of σc, as the Rezek-Kosloff efficiency shared by single-particle heat engines under sudden driving [11].”
Fundamental aspects of steady-state conversion of heat to work at the nanoscale (2016, methodology): “[468], irreversible loss of power in a heat engine was considered for harmonic systems in the framework of the quantum master equation approach and the origin of friction was traced back to the noncommutability of the kinetic and potential energy of the working substance.”
Quantum Thermodynamics: A Dynamical Viewpoint (2013, background): “This lost energy is the quantum version of friction [27,36,37].”