Thermodynamic universality of quantum Carnot engines

Bartłomiej Gardas and Sebastian Deffner
Phys. Rev. E 92, 042126 – Published 12 October 2015

Abstract

The Carnot statement of the second law of thermodynamics poses an upper limit on the efficiency of all heat engines. Recently, it has been studied whether generic quantum features such as coherence and quantum entanglement could allow for quantum devices with efficiencies larger than the Carnot efficiency. The present study shows that this is not permitted by the laws of thermodynamics—independent of the model. We will show that rather the definition of heat has to be modified to account for the thermodynamic cost of maintaining non-Gibbsian equilibrium states. Our theoretical findings are illustrated for two experimentally relevant examples.

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  • Received 13 April 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.042126

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Bartłomiej Gardas1,2 and Sebastian Deffner1,3,*

  • 1Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 2Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, 40-007 Katowice, Poland
  • 3Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • *sdeffner@lanl.gov

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Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 4 — October 2015

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