Cyclic active refrigerators

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Liu, S., Datta, A., Barato, A. C.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Liu, S.
Datta, A.
Barato, A. C.
author_facet Liu, S.
Datta, A.
Barato, A. C.
contents Thermodynamic cycles are idealized processes that can convert heat into work or produce heat flow against a temperature gradient with the input of work. They remain an active area of research in modern stochastic thermodynamics. In particular, cyclic active heat engines have been shown to display a rich phenomenology, such as ``violations'' of the Carnot bound on efficiency and an improved performance in comparison to their passive counterparts. We introduce the concept of cyclic active refrigerators using a previously derived second law for cyclic active systems. We show that for cyclic active refrigerators, a naive definition of the coefficient of performance can exceed the bound set by the standard second law for passive refrigerators. We also show that cyclic active systems can behave like a Maxwell's demon, with heat flowing from the cold to the hot reservoir without any work input. Beyond this phase, cyclic active systems can enter a hybrid phase, functioning as both a heat engine and a refrigerator simultaneously. Our results are obtained with two models that involve active Brownian particles, a simpler one that allows for analytical results and a more realistic one that is analyzed through numerical simulations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10276
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cyclic active refrigerators
Liu, S.
Datta, A.
Barato, A. C.
Statistical Mechanics
Thermodynamic cycles are idealized processes that can convert heat into work or produce heat flow against a temperature gradient with the input of work. They remain an active area of research in modern stochastic thermodynamics. In particular, cyclic active heat engines have been shown to display a rich phenomenology, such as ``violations'' of the Carnot bound on efficiency and an improved performance in comparison to their passive counterparts. We introduce the concept of cyclic active refrigerators using a previously derived second law for cyclic active systems. We show that for cyclic active refrigerators, a naive definition of the coefficient of performance can exceed the bound set by the standard second law for passive refrigerators. We also show that cyclic active systems can behave like a Maxwell's demon, with heat flowing from the cold to the hot reservoir without any work input. Beyond this phase, cyclic active systems can enter a hybrid phase, functioning as both a heat engine and a refrigerator simultaneously. Our results are obtained with two models that involve active Brownian particles, a simpler one that allows for analytical results and a more realistic one that is analyzed through numerical simulations.
title Cyclic active refrigerators
topic Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10276