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arXiv:1208.2222

Efficiency of the general quantum-mechanical Carnot engine

Sumiyoshi Abe

Published Aug 10, 2012• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot engine reversibly working at vanishing temperature, shortly termed the quantum-mechanical Carnot engine, is discussed. A general formula for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential is presented. Its expression is purely given in terms of the structure of the energy spectrum. Dependency of the efficiency on the form of a potential as an analog of the working material in thermodynamics implies nonuniversality of the engine. This may be due to the absence of the second-law-like principle in pure-state quantum mechanics.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1208.2222

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A quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot engine reversibly working at vanishing temperature, shortly termed the quantum-mechanical Carnot engine, is discussed. A general formula for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential is presented. Its expression is purely given in terms of the structure of the energy spectrum. Dependency of the efficiency on the form of a potential as an analog of the working material in thermodynamics implies nonuniversality of the engine. This may be due to the absence of the second-law-like principle in pure-state quantum mechanics.
An analog of the Carnot engine reversibly operating within the framework of pure-state quantum mechanics is discussed. A general formula is derived for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential. Its expression is given in terms of an energy spectrum and shows how the efficiency depends on a potential as the analog of a working material in thermodynamics, in general. This non-universal nature results from the fact that there exists no analog of the second law of thermodynamics in pure-state quantum mechanics where the von Neumann entropy identically vanishes. A special class of spectra, which leads to a common form of the efficiency, is identified.
A cyclic thermodynamic heat engine,which combines adiabatic and isothermal processes and consists of classical ideal gas as working substance,runs most efficiently if it is reversible.In this paper,A new cyclic model of quantum Carnot heat engine whose working substance consists of non-interacting extreme relativistic particles confined to an infinite potential well,is set up.It is shown that the engine whose cycle consists of adiabatic and isothermal quantum processes are close analogues of the corresponding classical processes and that the efficiency of this engine is equal to the Carnot efficiency because quantum dynamics is reversible.Consequently,the expectation value of the Hamiltonian in the expression of the efficiency is similar to the temperature in that of the classical one.
A cyclic thermodynamic heat engine runs most efficiently if it is reversible. Carnot constructed such a reversible heat engine by combining adiabatic and isothermal processes for a system containing an ideal gas. Here, we present an example of a cyclic engine based on a single quantum mechanical particle confined to a potential well. The efficiency of this engine is shown to equal the Carnot efficiency because quantum dynamics is reversible. The quantum heat engine has a cycle consisting of adiabatic and isothermal quantum processes that are close analogues of the corresponding classical processes.
The similarity between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics is discussed. It is found that if the Clausius equality is imposed on the Shannon entropy and the analog of the quantity of heat, then the value of the Shannon entropy comes to formally coincide with that of the von Neumann entropy of the canonical density matrix, and pure-state quantum mechanics apparently transmutes into quantum thermodynamics. The corresponding quantum Carnot cycle of a simple two-state model of a particle confined in a one-dimensional infinite potential well is studied, and its efficiency is shown to be identical to the classical one.
Carnot cycle consists of isothermal and adiabatic processes which are reversible. Using analogy in quantum mechanics, these processes can be well explained by replacing variables in classical process with a quantum system. Quantum system which is shown in this paper is a particle that moves under the influence of a cubic potential which is restricted only to the state of the two energy levels. At the end, the efficiency of the system is shown as a function of the width ratio between the initial conditions and the farthest wall while expanding. Furthermore, the system efficiency will be considered 1D and 2D cases. The providing efficiencies are different due to the influence of the degeneration of energy and the degrees of freedom of the system.
Carnot model of heat engine is the most efficient cycle consisting of isothermal and adiabatic processes which are reversible. Although ideal gas usually used as a working fluid in the Carnot engine, Bender used quantum particle confined in 1D potential well as a working fluid. In this paper, by following Bender we generalize the situation to 2D symmetric potential well. The efficiency is express as the ratio of the initial length of the system to the final length of the compressed system. The result then is shown that for the same ratio, 2D potential well is more efficient than 1D potential well.