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Main Authors: Brollo, Alberto, del Campo, Adolfo, Bastianello, Alvise
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.02044
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author Brollo, Alberto
del Campo, Adolfo
Bastianello, Alvise
author_facet Brollo, Alberto
del Campo, Adolfo
Bastianello, Alvise
contents Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic stationary phases. This work explores whether prethermalization enhances or reduces engine efficiency. We investigate Otto cycles in quantum systems with varying numbers of conserved quantities. We find that additional conservation laws reduce efficiency at positive temperatures, but enhance it in regimes of negative temperatures. Our findings stem from general thermodynamic inequalities for infinitesimal cycles, and we provide evidence for integrable models undergoing finite cycles using the theoretical framework of Generalized Hydrodynamics. The relevance of our results for quantum simulators is also discussed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_02044
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Universal efficiency boost in prethermal quantum heat engines at negative temperature
Brollo, Alberto
del Campo, Adolfo
Bastianello, Alvise
Quantum Physics
Quantum Gases
Statistical Mechanics
Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic stationary phases. This work explores whether prethermalization enhances or reduces engine efficiency. We investigate Otto cycles in quantum systems with varying numbers of conserved quantities. We find that additional conservation laws reduce efficiency at positive temperatures, but enhance it in regimes of negative temperatures. Our findings stem from general thermodynamic inequalities for infinitesimal cycles, and we provide evidence for integrable models undergoing finite cycles using the theoretical framework of Generalized Hydrodynamics. The relevance of our results for quantum simulators is also discussed.
title Universal efficiency boost in prethermal quantum heat engines at negative temperature
topic Quantum Physics
Quantum Gases
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.02044