Optimal performance of endoreversible quantum refrigerators

Correa, Luis A.; Palao, Jos� P.; Adesso, Gerardo; Alonso, Daniel

Abstract

The derivation of general performance benchmarks is important in the design of highly optimized heat engines and refrigerators. To obtain them, one may model phenomenologically the leading sources of irreversibility ending up with results that are model independent, but limited in scope. Alternatively, one can take a simple physical system realizing a thermodynamic cycle and assess its optimal operation from a complete microscopic description. We follow this approach in order to derive the coefficient of performance at maximum cooling rate for any endoreversible quantum refrigerator. At striking variance with the universality of the optimal efficiency of heat engines, we find that the cooling performance at maximum power is crucially determined by the details of the specific system-bath interaction mechanism. A closed analytical benchmark is found for endoreversible refrigerators weakly coupled to unstructured bosonic heat baths: an ubiquitous case study in quantum thermodynamics.

Citation

Correa, L. A., Palao, J. P., Adesso, G., & Alonso, D. (2014). Optimal performance of endoreversible quantum refrigerators. Physical Review E, 90(6), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.062124

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 24, 2014
• Publication Date: Dec 17, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 11, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 11, 2017
• Journal: Physical Review E
• Print ISSN: 2470-0045
• Electronic ISSN: 2470-0053
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 90
• Issue: 6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.062124
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/740768
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.062124
• Additional Information: ©2014 American Physical Society