Abstract
We study the efficiency fluctuations of a stochastic heat engine made of interacting unicyclic machines and undergoing a phase transition in the macroscopic limit. Depending on and on the observation time, the machine can explore its whole phase space or not. This affects the engine efficiency that either strongly fluctuates on a large interval of equiprobable efficiencies (ergodic case) or fluctuates close to several most likely values (nonergodic case). We also provide a proof that despite the phase transition, the decay rate of the efficiency distribution at the reversible efficiency remains largest one although other efficiencies can now decay equally fast.
- Received 12 December 2019
- Accepted 13 May 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.250603
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