Comparing Two Definitions of Work for a Biological Quantum Heat Engine

Systems of photosynthetic reaction centres have been modelled as heat engines, while it has also been reported that the efficiency and power of such heat engines can be enhanced by quantum interference|a trait that has attracted much interest. We compare two definitions of the work of such a photosynthetic heat engine, i.e. definition A used by Weimer et al. and B by Dorfman et al. We also introduce a coherent interaction between donor and acceptor (CIDA) to demonstrate a reversible energy transport. We show that these two definitions of work can impart contradictory results, that is, CIDA enhances the power and efficiency of the photosynthetic heat engine with definition B but not with A. Additionally, we find that both reversible and irreversible excitation-energy transport can be described with definition A, but definition B can only model irreversible transport. As a result, we conclude that definition A is more suitable for photosynthetic systems than definition B.     

A Three-Terminal Quantum Well Heat Engine with Heat Leakage

We propose a model for a three-terminal quantum well heat engine with heat leakage. According to the Landauer formula, the expressions for the charge current, the heat current, the power output and the efficiency are derived in the linear-response regime. The curves of the power output and the efficiency versus the positions of energy levels and the bias voltage are plotted by numerical calculation. Moreover, we obtain the maximum power output and the corresponding efficiency, and analyze the influence of the heat leakage factor, the positions of energy levels and the bias voltage on these performance parameters.     

The Second Law of Thermodynamics in a Quantum Heat Engine Model

The second law of thermodynamics has been proven by many facts in classical world. Is there any new property of it in quantum world? In this paper, we calculate the change of entropy in T.D. Kieu's model for quantum heat engine (QHE) and prove the broad validity of the second law of thermodynamics. It is shown that the entropy of the quantum heat engine neither decreases in a whole cycle, nor decreases in either stage of the cycle. The second law of thermodynamics still holds in this QHE model. Moreover, although the modified quantum heat engine is capable of extracting more work, its efficiency does not improve at all. It is neither beyond the efficiency of T.D. Kieu's initial model, nor greater than the reversible Carnot efficiency.     

The Quantum Otto Heat Engine with a Relativistically Moving Thermal Bath

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - We investigate the quantum thermodynamic cycle of a quantum heat engine carrying out an Otto thermodynamic cycle. We use the thermal properties of a...     

Quantum Heat Engine Based on Working Substance of Two Particles Heisenberg XXX Model with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction

A quantum heat engine (QHE) with a working substance of two-particle \( \left(\frac{1}{2},1\right) \) Heisenberg XXX model with Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya (DM) interaction in the external magnetic field B is studied, and the influences of the DM interaction on the efficiency, work are examined under different coupling strengths. The results show that the QHE can operate and produce positive work and the efficiency on the two magnetic field conditions B₁ < B₂ and B₁ > B₂. Moreover, the efficiency can achieve the large value and several interesting effects of the DM interaction on the local work are obtained.

     

Thermal Entangled Quantum Heat Engine Working with a Three-Qubit Heisenberg XX Model

Based on a three-qubit isotropic Heisenberg XX model with a constant external magnetic field, we construct an entangled quantum heat engine (QHE). The expressions for several thermodynamic quantities such as the heat transferred, the work and the efficiency are derived. Moreover, the influence of the entanglement on the thermodynamic quantities is investigated analytically and numerically. Several interesting features of the variation of the heat transferred, the work and the efficiency with the concurrences of the thermal entanglement of two different thermal equilibrium states in zero and nonzero magnetic fields are obtained. At last, we discussed the maximum efficiency of the QHE.     

热库诱导的两比特量子纠缠与量子关联

对比研究了处于热库中的两量子比特的量子纠缠和量子关联随时间的演化。数值模拟的结果表明,尽管热库几乎总能诱导两量子比特的量子纠缠与量子关联,但二者的动力学演化并不完全相同。在与热库的相互作用中,两比特初始形成量子纠缠,随后纠缠逐渐消失,两比特形成纠缠以外的量子关联并得到维持。由此看出,相比于量子纠缠,量子关联对消相干的影响表现得更为稳健。     

Performance Analysis and Optimization for Irreversible Combined Carnot Heat Engine Working with Ideal Quantum Gases

An irreversible combined Carnot cycle model using ideal quantum gases as a working medium was studied by using finite-time thermodynamics. The combined cycle consisted of two Carnot sub-cycles in a cascade mode. Considering thermal resistance, internal irreversibility, and heat leakage losses, the power output and thermal efficiency of the irreversible combined Carnot cycle were derived by utilizing the quantum gas state equation. The temperature effect of the working medium on power output and thermal efficiency is analyzed by numerical method, the optimal relationship between power output and thermal efficiency is solved by the Euler-Lagrange equation, and the effects of different working mediums on the optimal power and thermal efficiency performance are also focused. The results show that there is a set of working medium temperatures that makes the power output of the combined cycle be maximum. When there is no heat leakage loss in the combined cycle, all the characteristic curves of optimal power versus thermal efficiency are parabolic-like ones, and the internal irreversibility makes both power output and efficiency decrease. When there is heat leakage loss in the combined cycle, all the characteristic curves of optimal power versus thermal efficiency are loop-shaped ones, and the heat leakage loss only affects the thermal efficiency of the combined Carnot cycle. Comparing the power output of combined heat engines with four types of working mediums, the two-stage combined Carnot cycle using ideal Fermi-Bose gas as working medium obtains the highest power output.     

Equivalent Definitions of the Quantum Nonadiabatic Entropy Production

The nonadiabatic entropy production is a useful tool for the thermodynamic analysis of continuously dissipating, nonequilibrium steady states. For open quantum systems, two seemingly distinct definitions for the nonadiabatic entropy production have appeared in the literature, one based on the quantum relative entropy and the other based on quantum trajectories. We show that these two formulations are equivalent. Furthermore, this equivalence leads us to a proof of the monotonicity of the quantum relative entropy under a special class of completely-positive, trace-preserving quantum maps, which circumvents difficulties associated with the noncommuntative structure of operators.     

Equivalence of Two Definitions of the Effective Mass of a Polaron

Two definitions of the effective mass of a particle interacting with a quantum field, such as a polaron, are considered and shown to be equal in models similar to the Fröhlich polaron model. These are: 1. the mass defined by the low momentum energy E(P)≈E(0)+P ²/2M of the translation invariant system constrained to have momentum P and 2. the mass M of a simple particle in an arbitrary slowly varying external potential, V, described by the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation, whose ground state energy equals that of the combined particle/field system in a bound state in the same V.     

Two Quantum Coins Sharing a Walker

For classical random walks, changing or not changing coins makes a trivial influence on the random-walk behaviors. In this paper, we investigate the quantum walk where a walker’s movement is controlled by two initially independent coins alternately partially or fully after each step. We observe that there exist complicated inter-coin correlations in the quantum walk. Specifically, we study the correlations of two coins by tracing out the walker, and analyze classical, general, and quantum correlations between two coins in terms of classical mutual information, quantum mutual information, and measurement-induced disturbance. Our analysis shows different quantum features from that in classical random walks.

     

Properties of Heat Generation in a Double Quantum Dot

We investigate the electronic-current-induced heat generation in a double quantum dot connected by two normal leads. The dots are coupled in series with a coupling strength td. It is found that, at zero temperature and weak dot-lead coupling, td affects the heating and current heavily. In particular, the effects on the heat generation and on the current are quite different. For example, at a heating valley the current can exhibit a deep valley, a plateau, or a high peak depending on td. As a result, we can find an ideal working condition, large current while small heating, for the double dots system by tuning the interdot coupling strength.     

Quantum State Transfer for Two Atoms with a Single Resonant Interaction

We present a scheme for transferring an unknown atomic entangled state with a single resonant interaction. This scheme only requires a single resonant interaction of two atoms with a cavity mode and does not use the cavity mode as the memory. Thus the scheme is very simple and the interaction time is very short, which is important, in view of decoherence. Quantum state can be directly transferred from two atoms to another two at, oms with a successful probability of 100 percent.     

Two Methods for Extending Quantum Key Warehouse

Because the rates of quantum key distribution systems are too low, the interleaving technique and interpolation technique are used to extend the capacity of the quantum key warehouse to increase the quantum key rates of quantum secure communication systems. The simulation shows that the interleaving technique and interpolation technique can extend random sequences and that their randomness are invariable. The correlative theory and technique of digital signal processing is an effective method of extending the quantum key warehouse. Translated from Chinese Journal of Quantum Electronics, 2005, 22(1) (in Chinese)     

Knotted Picture of a Quantum Network of Two Nodes

This article discusses the variation of the knotted picture of the quantum pure state |χ>=α|↑↓> +β|↓↑> with the variation of the complex coefficients α and β. It is shown that there are three kinds of link that correspond to three different ranks of the matrix of covariance correlation tensor, i.e., the zero rank corresponds to trivial link, the rank one corresponds to the two-component link with two crossings, and the rank three corresponds to the two-component link with four crossings.     

Quantum Discord Preservation for Two Quantum-Correlated Qubits in Two Independent Reserviors

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - We investigate the dynamics of quantum discord using an exactly solvable model where two qubits coupled to independent thermal environments. The...     

Polaron Effect of a Two Electron Parabolic Quantum Dot

Polaron induced double electron in a quantum dot is investigated using the exact diagonalization techniques and the compact density-matrix approach. The dependence of nonlinear optical processes on the incident photon energies and the polaronic effect are brought out. The linear, third order non-linear optical absorption coefficients and the refractive index changes of singlet and triplet states as a function of photon energy are obtained with and without the inclusion of polaronic effect. It is found that the geometrical confinement and the effect of polaron have great influence on the optical properties of dots.