Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation in Slowly Driven Quantum Heat Engines

Harry J. D. Miller, M. Hamed Mohammady, Martí Perarnau-Llobet, and Giacomo Guarnieri
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 210603 – Published 27 May 2021
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Abstract

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations express a trade-off between precision, defined as the noise-to-signal ratio of a generic current, and the amount of associated entropy production. These results have deep consequences for autonomous heat engines operating at steady state, imposing an upper bound for their efficiency in terms of the power yield and its fluctuations. In the present Letter we analyze a different class of heat engines, namely, those which are operating in the periodic slow-driving regime. We show that an alternative TUR is satisfied, which is less restrictive than that of steady-state engines: it allows for engines that produce finite power, with small power fluctuations, to operate close to reversibility. The bound further incorporates the effect of quantum fluctuations, which reduces engine efficiency relative to the average power and reliability. We finally illustrate our findings in the experimentally relevant model of a single-ion heat engine.

  • Figure
  • Received 14 July 2020
  • Accepted 18 March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.210603

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & ThermodynamicsQuantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

Harry J. D. Miller1,*, M. Hamed Mohammady2, Martí Perarnau-Llobet3, and Giacomo Guarnieri4,5

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
  • 2RCQI, Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava 84511, Slovakia
  • 3Département de Physique Appliquée, Université de Genève, Genève 1205, Switzerland
  • 4School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
  • 5Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany

  • *dr.hjdmiller@gmail.com

See Also

Joint statistics of work and entropy production along quantum trajectories

Harry J. D. Miller, M. Hamed Mohammady, Martí Perarnau-Llobet, and Giacomo Guarnieri
Phys. Rev. E 103, 052138 (2021)

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Vol. 126, Iss. 21 — 28 May 2021

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