By harnessing quantum phenomena, quantum devices have the potential to outperform their classical counterparts. Previous work has shown that a bosonic working medium can yield better performance than a fermionic medium. We expand upon this work by incorporating a singular interaction that allows the effective symmetry to be tuned between the bosonic and fermionic limits. In this framework, the particles can be treated as subject to Haldane's generalized exclusion statistics. Solving the dynamics analytically using the framework of statistical anyons we explore the interplay between interparticle interactions and wave function symmetry on engine performance.
By harnessing quantum phenomena, quantum devices have the potential to outperform their classical counterparts. Previous work has shown that a bosonic working medium can yield better performance than a fermionic medium. We expand upon this work by incorporating a singular interaction that allows the effective symmetry to be tuned between the bosonic and fermionic limits. In this framework, the particles can be treated as subject to Haldane's generalized exclusion statistics. Solving the dynamics analytically using the framework of statistical anyons we explore the interplay between interparticle interactions and wave function symmetry on engine performance.
By harnessing quantum phenomena, quantum devices have the potential to outperform their classical counterparts. Here, we examine using wave function symmetry as a resource to enhance the performance of a quantum Otto engine. Previous work has shown that a bosonic working medium can yield better performance than a fermionic medium. We expand upon this work by incorporating a singular interaction that allows the effective symmetry to be tuned between the bosonic and fermionic limits. In this framework, the particles can be treated as anyons subject to Haldane’s generalized exclusion statistics. Solving the dynamics analytically using the framework of “statistical anyons”, we explore the interplay between interparticle interactions and wave function symmetry on engine performance.
Abstract A key focus of designing quantum thermal devices is the potential advantage that can be gleaned from genuine quantum effects when compared to classical devices. The recent experimental realization of the Pauli engine (Koch et al 2023 Nature 621 723)—where energy is extracted via changes in particle statistics as an alternative to conventional heat sources—has opened new avenues of research where quantum statistics can be considered as a thermodynamic resource. In this work we propose hybrid quantum heat engines which can utilize additional strokes that change the single particle statistics between bosonic and fermionic descriptions during the cycle. To accomplish this we consider the 1D Lieb–Liniger gas, in which the s-wave interactions can be tuned between the non-interacting and the hard-core limit, which are described by bosonic and fermionic statistics respectively. We show that by suitably choosing where to implement these statistical strokes during an Otto-like cycle in the quasi-static limit, the efficiency and work output can be significantly enhanced when compared to fully bosonic or fully fermionic engines. Furthermore, in the degenerate regime our engine can operate at the Carnot efficiency, due to the interplay between the different contributions of heat and work induced by the statistical strokes. Finally, we highlight how our thermodynamic cycles can realize other thermal operations, such as refrigerators, promising similar statistical enhancements for a wide range of temperatures.
The maximum power extractable from a quantum thermoelectric heat engine operating with free fermion carriers is bounded by the universal Whitney limit, Pfermionmax≃0.0321π2kB2(TL−TR)2/h. We demonstrate that this bound is not fundamental to quantum heat engines but is instead an artifact of fermionic statistics. Within the nonlinear Landauer-Büttiker framework, a bosonic working medium yields a strictly enhanced universal maximum power, Pbosonmax=(ln2)2kB2(TL−TR)2/h, exceeding the fermionic limit by a factor of (ln2)2/(0.0321π2)≈1.52. We propose magnon transport through a ferromagnetic spin chain as an experimentally viable bosonic realization. Incorporating Haldane fractional exclusion statistics with parameter g provides a continuous interpolation between the bosonic (g=0) and fermionic (g=1) limits, revealing a monotonic enhancement of maximum power for g<1 at reduced bias cost. These results establish quantum statistical exclusion as a previously unrecognized and independently tunable thermodynamic resource, opening performance regimes inaccessible to conventional carrier-engineering approaches.
The behavior of a collection of identical particles is intimately linked to the symmetries of their wavefunction under particle exchange. Topological anyons, arising as quasiparticles in low-dimensional systems, interpolate between bosons and fermions, picking up a complex phase when exchanged. Recent research has demonstrated that similar statistical behavior can arise with mixtures of bosonic and fermionic pairs, offering theoretical and experimental simplicity. We introduce an alternative implementation of such \emph{statistical anyons}, based on promoting or suppressing the population of symmetric states via a symmetry generating Hamiltonian. The scheme has numerous advantages: anyonic statistics emerge in a single particle pair, extending straightforwardly to larger systems; the statistical properties can be dynamically adjusted; and the setup can be simulated efficiently. We show how exchange symmetry can be exploited to improve the performance of heat engines, and demonstrate a reversible work extraction cycle in which bosonization and fermionization replace compression and expansion strokes. Additionally, we investigate emergent thermal properties, including critical phenomena, in large statistical anyon systems.
We examine a quantum Otto engine with a harmonic working medium consisting of two particles to explore the use of wave function symmetry as an accessible resource. It is shown that the bosonic system displays enhanced performance when compared to two independent single particle engines, while the fermionic system displays reduced performance. To this end, we explore the trade-off between efficiency and power output and the parameter regimes under which the system functions as engine, refrigerator, or heater. Remarkably, the bosonic system operates under a wider parameter space both when operating as an engine and as a refrigerator.
While the emergent field of quantum thermodynamics has the potential to impact energy science, the performance of thermal machines is often classical. We ask whether quantum effects can boost the performance of a thermal machine to reach quantum supremacy, i.e., surpassing both the efficiency and power achieved in classical thermodynamics. To this end, we introduce a nonadiabatic quantum heat engine operating an Otto cycle with a many-particle working medium, consisting of an interacting Bose gas confined in a time-dependent harmonic trap. It is shown that thanks to the interplay of nonadiabatic and many-particle quantum effects, this thermal machine can outperform an ensemble of single-particle heat engines with same resources, demonstrating the quantum supremacy of many-particle thermal machines.