Non-Canonical Quantum Otto Engine
Abstract
The fast-developing quantum technology is propelling thermal machine, which lies at the heart of thermodynamics, into a new golden era. Being stochastic because of the non-negligible thermal and quantum fluctuations, the efficiency and power of a finite-time quantum heat engine exhibit a trade-off, preventing the simultaneous achievement of high power and high efficiency. Conventional studies treat the statistics of a heat engine by assuming canonical thermalization, which is valid only under weak-coupling conditions. We here investigate the noncanonical effect on the statistics of the efficiency and power for a finite-time quantum Otto cycle. It is revealed that their average values and variances are highly controllable by engineering the energy spectrum structure of the composite system consisting of the working substance and the bath. Near the quantum critical point induced by the formation of a bound state in the energy spectrum, the average efficiency and power can be boosted simultaneously, meanwhile, both of their variances are decreased. Deepening our understanding of the usefulness of quantum reservoir engineering in thermodynamics, our result lays the foundation for the realization of efficient and stable quantum energy devices.
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BibTeX
@misc{wu2026noncanonical,
title = {{Non-Canonical Quantum Otto Engine}},
author = {Wei Wu and Jun-Hong An},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.37194},
eprint = {2609.37194},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37194},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Non-Canonical Quantum Otto Engine
AU - Wei Wu
AU - Jun-Hong An
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.37194
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37194
AB - The fast-developing quantum technology is propelling thermal machine, which lies at the heart of thermodynamics, into a new golden era. Being stochastic because of the non-negligible thermal and quantum fluctuations, the efficiency and power of a finite-time quantum heat engine exhibit a trade-off, preventing the simultaneous achievement of high power and high efficiency. Conventional studies treat the statistics of a heat engine by assuming canonical thermalization, which is valid only under weak-coupling conditions. We here investigate the noncanonical effect on the statistics of the efficiency and power for a finite-time quantum Otto cycle. It is revealed that their average values and variances are highly controllable by engineering the energy spectrum structure of the composite system consisting of the working substance and the bath. Near the quantum critical point induced by the formation of a bound state in the energy spectrum, the average efficiency and power can be boosted simultaneously, meanwhile, both of their variances are decreased. Deepening our understanding of the usefulness of quantum reservoir engineering in thermodynamics, our result lays the foundation for the realization of efficient and stable quantum energy devices.
ER -