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Bound on Efficiency of Heat Engine From Uncertainty Relation Viewpoint

Ayan Mitra, Pritam Chattapadhyay, Goutam Paul, Vasilios Zarikas

Published Jan 18, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Quantum cycles in established heat engines can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. As for example, heat engine can be modeled with an infinite potential well as the working substance to determine the efficiency and work done. However, in this method, the relationship between the quantum observables and the physically measurable parameters, i.e., the efficiency and work done is not well understood from the quantum mechanics approach. A detailed analysis is needed to link the thermodynamical variables (on which the efficiency and work done depends) with the uncertainty principle for better understanding. Here, we present the connection of sum uncertainty relation of position and momentum operators with thermodynamic variables in the quantum heat engine model. We are able to determine the upper and lower bounds on the efficiency of the heat engine through uncertainty relation.

DOI
10.21203/rs.3.rs-143627/v1

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Abstract Quantum cycles in established heat engines can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. As for example, heat engine can be modeled with an infinite potential well as the working substance to determine the efficiency and work done. However, in this method, the relationship between the quantum observables and the physically measurable parameters, i.e., the efficiency and work done is not well understood from the quantum mechanics approach. A detailed analysis is needed to link the thermodynamical variables (on which the efficiency and work done depends) with the uncertainty principle for better understanding. Here, we present the connection of sum uncertainty relation of position and momentum operators with thermodynamic variables in the quantum heat engine model. We are able to determine the upper and lower bounds on the efficiency of the heat engine through uncertainty relation.
Quantum cycles in established heat engines can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. For example, a heat engine can be modeled with an infinite potential well as the working substance to determine the efficiency and work done. However, in this method, the relationship between the quantum observables and the physically measurable parameters-i.e., the efficiency and work done-is not well understood from the quantum mechanics approach. A detailed analysis is needed to link the thermodynamic variables (on which the efficiency and work done depends) with the uncertainty principle for better understanding. Here, we present the connection of the sum uncertainty relation of position and momentum operators with thermodynamic variables in the quantum heat engine model. We are able to determine the upper and lower bounds on the efficiency of the heat engine through the uncertainty relation.
Established heat engines in quantum regime can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. For example, in the non-relativistic case, we can model the heat engine using infinite potential well as a working substance to evaluate the efficiency and work done of the engine. Here, we propose quantum heat engine with a relativistic particle confined in the one-dimensional potential well as working substance. The cycle comprises of two isothermal processes and two potential well processes of equal width, which forms the quantum counterpart of the known isochoric process in classical nature. For a concrete interpretation about the relation between the quantum observables with the physically measurable parameters (like the efficiency and work done), we develop a link between the thermodynamic variables and the uncertainty relation. We have used this model to explore the work extraction and the efficiency of the heat engine for a relativistic case from the standpoint of uncertainty relation, where the incompatible observables are the position and the momentum operators. We are able to determine the bounds (the upper and the lower bounds) of the efficiency of the heat engine through the thermal uncertainty relation.
A new model of a quantum heat engine cycle is established in which the working substance consists of many non-interacting spin-1/2 systems.Performance characteristics of the cycle and time evolution of the spin angular momentum are investigated,based on the quantum master equation and a semi-group approach.The general expressions of efficiency and power output are derived.Further,at high temperatures the optimal relations of efficiency and power output are studied in detail.Optimal performance of heat engine cycles is analyzed from a microscopic model.
Recent predictions for quantum-mechanical enhancements in the operation of small heat engines have raised renewed interest in their study both from a fundamental perspective and in view of applications. One essential question is whether collective effects may help to carry enhancements over larger scales, when increasing the number of systems composing the working substance of the engine. Such enhancements may consider not only power and efficiency, that is, its performance, but, additionally, its constancy, that is, the stability of the engine with respect to unavoidable environmental fluctuations. We explore this issue by introducing a many-body quantum heat engine model composed by spin pairs working in continuous operation. We study how power, efficiency, and constancy scale with the number of spins composing the engine and introduce a well-defined macroscopic limit where analytical expressions are obtained. Our results predict power enhancements, in both finite-size and macroscopic cases, for a broad range of system parameters and temperatures, without compromising the engine efficiency, accompanied by coherence-enhanced constancy for finite sizes. We discuss these quantities in connection to thermodynamic uncertainty relations.
Abstract In the quest for high-performance quantum thermal machines, looking for an optimal thermodynamic efficiency is only part of the issue. Indeed, at the level of quantum devices, fluctuations become extremely relevant and need to be taken into account. In this paper we study the thermodynamic uncertainty relations for a quantum thermal machine with a quantum harmonic oscillator as a working medium, connected to two thermal baths, one of which is dynamically coupled. We show that parameters can be found such that the machine operates both as a quantum engine or refrigerator, with both sizeable efficiency and small fluctuations.
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 dynamics, we show that such experiments would give access to a set of observables that determine the trade-off between power and efficiency in finite-time engine cycles.By analyzing the single-jump statistics of thermodynamic fluxes such as heat and entropy production, we obtain a family of general bounds on the power of microscopic heat engines.Our new bounds unify two earlier results and admit a transparent physical interpretation in terms of single-photon measurements.In addition, these bounds confirm that driving-induced coherence leads to an increase in dissipation that suppresses the efficiency of slowly driven quantum engines in the weak-coupling regime.A nanoscale heat engine based on a superconducting qubit serves as an experimentally relevant example and a guiding paradigm for the development of our theory.