Short time cycles of purely quantum refrigerators
Abstract
Four stroke Otto refrigerator cycles with no classical analog are studied. Extremely short cycle times with respect to the internal timescale of the working medium characterize these refrigerators. Therefore, these cycles are termed sudden. The sudden cycles are characterized by the stable limit cycle, which is the invariant of the global cycle propagator. During their operation the states of the working medium possess significant coherence which is not erased in the equilibration segments due to the very short time allocated. This characteristic is reflected in a difference between the energy entropy and the Von Neumann entropy of the working medium. A classification scheme for sudden refrigerators is developed allowing simple approximations for the cooling power and coefficient of performance.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review E
- Pub Date:
- May 2012
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1204.4059
- Bibcode:
- 2012PhRvE..85e1114F
- Keywords:
-
- 05.70.Ln;
- 03.65.Yz;
- 07.20.Pe;
- 05.30.-d;
- Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics;
- Decoherence;
- open systems;
- quantum statistical methods;
- Heat engines;
- heat pumps;
- heat pipes;
- Quantum statistical mechanics;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- 20 pages, 12 figures. Among the figures there are 6 figures which are double, namely with two parts, Top and Bottom