Quantum thermodynamic cycles and quantum heat engines.

A review of quantum thermodynamics

In this article, we present a brief and elementary review of quantum thermodynamics and its achievements and challenges. This review includes an introduction to some fundamental concepts such as internal energy, heat, work, entropy, entropy production, thermal equilibrium, second law of quantum thermodynamics, relation between thermodynamics and information theory, as well as a discussion of ho...

Supplementary Information for Quantum heat engines: A thermodynamic analysis of power and efficiency

Quantum mechanics investigation of acid dissociation constant of carboxylic acids in aqueous solution

According to the Bronsted definition, any compound which has a hydrogen atom is an acid, since itmay be lost as a proton. A thermodynamical cycle is proposed to calculate absolute pKa values forBronsted acids in aqueous solution. The equilibrium of dissociation of a Bronsted acid depends onthe interaction of the acid and its conjugate base with solvent molecules. There fore the pKa valuedepends...

The thermodynamic cost of driving quantum systems by their boundaries

The laws of thermodynamics put limits to the efficiencies of thermal machines. Analogues of these laws are now established for quantum engines weakly and passively coupled to the environment providing a framework to find improvements to their performance. Systems whose interaction with the environment is actively controlled do not fall in that framework. Here we consider systems actively and lo...

Holographic Non-perturbative Thermodynamic Systems

The anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence conjectures a duality between field theories and higher dimensional theories of gravitation. Recent results describing thermodynamic systems in the AdS/CFT context include an exact description of the efficiency of black hole heat engines, suggesting questions regarding the nature of heat engines within this formulation and the e...