Surpassing Carnot efficiency with relativistic motion
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866908491094949888 |
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| author | Moustos, Dimitris Abah, Obinna |
| author_facet | Moustos, Dimitris Abah, Obinna |
| contents | Relativistic thermal devices offer a unique platform for understanding the interplay between motion, quantum fields, and thermodynamics, revealing phenomena inaccessible to stationary systems. We consider a two-qubit SWAP heat engine whose working medium consists of inertially moving Unruh-DeWitt qubit detectors, each coupled to a scalar quantum field in thermal equilibrium at a distinct temperature. Relativistic motion causes the qubits to perceive frequency-dependent effective temperatures that are either hotter or colder than their respective reservoir temperature. We show that the relativistic temperature shift, perhaps the qubit velocity, can be harnessed as a thermodynamic resource to enhance the work output and the efficiency at maximum power of the heat engine. We derive a generalized second law for a heat engine with a moving working medium and demonstrate that it can exceed the standard Carnot bound defined by rest-frame temperatures. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_11554 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Surpassing Carnot efficiency with relativistic motion Moustos, Dimitris Abah, Obinna Quantum Physics Statistical Mechanics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Relativistic thermal devices offer a unique platform for understanding the interplay between motion, quantum fields, and thermodynamics, revealing phenomena inaccessible to stationary systems. We consider a two-qubit SWAP heat engine whose working medium consists of inertially moving Unruh-DeWitt qubit detectors, each coupled to a scalar quantum field in thermal equilibrium at a distinct temperature. Relativistic motion causes the qubits to perceive frequency-dependent effective temperatures that are either hotter or colder than their respective reservoir temperature. We show that the relativistic temperature shift, perhaps the qubit velocity, can be harnessed as a thermodynamic resource to enhance the work output and the efficiency at maximum power of the heat engine. We derive a generalized second law for a heat engine with a moving working medium and demonstrate that it can exceed the standard Carnot bound defined by rest-frame temperatures. |
| title | Surpassing Carnot efficiency with relativistic motion |
| topic | Quantum Physics Statistical Mechanics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.11554 |