Effect of thermal inhomogeneity on the performance of a Brownian heat engine

We explore the effect of thermal inhomogeneity on the performance of a Brownian heat engine by considering exactly solvable models. We first consider a Brownian heat engine which is modeled as a Brownian particle in a ratchet potential moving through a highly viscous medium driven by the thermal kick it receives from a linearly decreasing background temperature. We show that even though the energy transfer due to kinetic energy is neglected, Carnot efficiency cannot be achieved at quasistatic limit. At quasistatic limit, the efficiency for such a Brownian heat engine approaches the efficiency of endoreversible engine η = 1 ? √T _c /T _h [F.L. Curzon, B. Ahlborn, Am. J. Phys. 43, 22 (1975)]. Moreover, the dependence of the current, the efficiency and the coefficient of performance of the refrigerator on the model parameters is also explored via Brownian dynamic simulations and analytically. We show that such a Brownian heat engine has a higher performance when acting as a refrigerator than when operating as a device subjected to a piecewise constant temperature [M. Asfaw, M. Bekele, Eur. Phys. J. B 38, 457 (2004), M. Asfaw, M. Bekele, Physica A 384, 346 (2007)]. Furthermore, for a Brownian heat engine driven by a piecewise constant temperature, we show that systematic removal of the inhomogeneous medium leads to a homogeneous medium with a uniform temperature where the effect of temperature inhomogeneity is replaced by an effective load.     

Temperature Fluctuations for a System in Contact with a Heat Bath

The problem of how to define and compute temperature fluctuations for a small system in contact with a heat bath is an old one and originates from Einstein’s theory of Brownian motion. Only for a small enough system does their relative size allow a straightforward experimental verification. Here we focus on a mesoscopic system in contact with a heat bath at temperature T _° and provide a self-consistent argument showing as to why, and in what sense, the observable standard deviation of temperature from T _° equals $\sqrt{k_{\rm B}/C}T_{\circ}$ where C is the mesoscopic system’s heat capacity. Our argument is based on ergodic decomposition, a simple fact that holds for a system in thermodynamic equilibrium and away from phase-transition points. In this way we close a line of argument opened by de Haas-Lorentz a century ago.     

Heat flow and efficiency in a microscopic engine

We study the energetics of a thermal motor driven by temperature differences, which consists of a Brownian particle moving in a sawtooth potential with an external load where the viscous medium is periodically in contact with hot and cold heat reservoir along space coordinate. The motor can work as a heat engine or a refrigerator under different conditions. The heat flow via both potential and kinetic energy is considered. The former is reversible when the engine works quasistatically and the latter is always irreversible. The efficiency of the heat engine can never approach Carnot efficiency.     

Recent advance on the efficiency at maximum power of heat engines

This review reports several key advances on the theoretical investigations of efficiency at maximum power of heat engines in the past five years. The analytical results of efficiency at maximum power for the Curzon-Ahlborn heat engine, the stochastic heat engine constructed from a Brownian particle, and Feynman's ratchet as a heat engine are presented. It is found that: the efficiency at maximum power exhibits universal behavior at small relative temperature differences; the lower and the upper bounds might exist under quite general conditions; and the problem of efficiency at maximum power comes down to seeking for the minimum irreversible entropy production in each finite-time isothermal process for a given time.     

Performance characteristics of an irreversible thermally driven Brownian microscopic heat engine

Brownian particles moving in a spatially asymmetric but periodic potential (ratchet), with an external load force and connected to an alternating hot and cold reservoir, are modeled as a microscopic heat engine, referred to as the Brownian heat engine. The heat flow via both the potential energy and the kinetic energy of the particles are considered simultaneously. The forward and backward particle currents are determined using an Arrhenius' factor. Expressions for the power output and efficiency are derived analytically. The maximum power output and efficiency are calculated. It is expounded that the Brownian heat engine is always irreversible and its efficiency cannot approach the efficiency η_C of the Carnot heat engine even in quasistatic limit. The influence of the main parameters such as the load, the barrier height of the potential, the asymmetry of the potential and the temperature ratio of the heat reservoirs on the performance of the Brownian heat engine is discussed in detail. It is found that the Brownian heat engines may be controlled to operate in different regions through variation of some parameters.     

Exploring the operation of a tiny heat engine

We model a tiny heat engine as a Brownian particle that moves in a viscous medium in a sawtooth potential (with or without load) assisted by alternately placed hot and cold heat baths along its path. We find closed form expression for the steady-state current as a function of the model parameters. This enables us to deal with the energetics of the model and evaluate either its efficiency or its coefficient of performance depending upon whether the model functions either as a heat engine or as a refrigerator, respectively. We also study the way current changes with changes in parameters of interest. When we plot the phase diagrams showing the way the model operates, we not only find regions where it functions as a heat engine and as a refrigerator but we also identify a region where the model functions as neither of the two.     

Current,maximum power and optimized efficiency of a Brownian heat engine

A microscopic heat engine is modeled as a Brownian particle in a sawtooth potential (with load) moving through a highly viscous medium driven by the thermal kick it gets from alternately placed hot and cold heat reservoirs. We found closed form expression for the current as a function of the parameters characterizing the model. Depending on the values these model parameters take, the engine is also found to function as a refrigerator. Expressions for the efficiency as well as for the refrigerator performance are also reported. Study of how these quantities depend on the model parameters enabled us in identifying the points in the parameter space where the engine performs with maximum power and with optimized efficiency. The corresponding efficiencies of the engine are then compared with those of the endoreversible and Carnot engines.Received: 28 December 2003, Published online: 28 May 2004PACS: 05.40.Jc Brownian motion - 05.60.-k Transport processes - 05.70.-a ThermodynamicsMesfin Asfaw: Present address: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424 Potsdam, Germany     

Searches for Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking topologies in e^+e^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to \sqrt{s}=209 \mathrm{GeV}

Searches were performed for topologies predicted by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models (GMSB). All possible lifetimes of the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP), either the lightest neutralino or slepton, decaying into the lightest SUSY particle, the gravitino, were considered. No evidence for GMSB signatures was found in the OPAL data sample collected at centre-of-mass energies up to $\sqrt{s}=209 \mathrm{GeV}$ at LEP. Limits on the product of the production cross-sections and branching fractions are presented for all search topologies. To test the impact of the searches, a complete scan over the parameters of the minimal model of GMSB was performed. NLSP masses below $53.5 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ in the neutralino NLSP scenario, below $87.4 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ in the stau NLSP scenario and below $91.9 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ in the slepton co-NLSP scenario are excluded at 95% confidence level for all NLSP lifetimes. The scan determines constraints on the universal SUSY mass scale Λ from the direct SUSY particle searches of Λ>40, 27, 21, 17, $15 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ for messenger indices N=1,2,3,4,5 for all NLSP lifetimes.     

Error Analysis on Photonic Qubit Rotations Implemented by Wave Plates

Optical Poincare sphere rotations $e^{-i\theta\sigma_{x}/2}$ , $e^{-i\theta\sigma_{y}/2}$ and $e^{-i\theta\sigma_{z}/2}$ can be realized by wave-plate combinations. Errors due to combinations with non-ideal wave plates are discussed for three specific combinations (θ=π) by trace distance. The result shows that different settings of combinations affect trace distance: (i) trace distance for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{x}/2}$ equals that for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{z}/2}$ , but both of them are smaller than that for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{y}/2}$ , when optics-axis random errors are considered; (ii) trace distance for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{x}/2}$ also equals that for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{z}/2}$ , but both of them are larger than that for $e^{-i\pi\sigma_{y}/2}$ , when phase-shift random errors are considered. The method outlined in this paper is general and is useful to analyze other combinations.     

Spherical Model on a Cayley Tree: Large Deviations

We study the spherical model of a ferromagnet on a Cayley tree and show that in the case of empty boundary conditions a ferromagnetic phase transition takes place at the critical temperature \(T_\mathrm{c} =\frac{6\sqrt{2}}{5}J\), where J is the interaction strength. For any temperature the equilibrium magnetization, \(m_n\), tends to zero in the thermodynamic limit, and the true order parameter is the renormalized magnetization \(r_n=n^{3/2}m_n\), where n is the number of generations in the Cayley tree. Below \(T_\mathrm{c}\), the equilibrium values of the order parameter are given by \(\pm \rho ^*\), where

$$\begin{aligned} \rho ^*=\frac{2\pi }{(\sqrt{2}-1)^2}\sqrt{1-\frac{T}{T_\mathrm{c}}}. \end{aligned}$$

One more notable temperature in the model is the penetration temperature

$$\begin{aligned} T_\mathrm{p}=\frac{J}{W_\mathrm{Cayley}(3/2)}\left( 1-\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left( \frac{h}{2J}\right) ^2\right) . \end{aligned}$$

Below \(T_\mathrm{p}\) the influence of homogeneous boundary field of magnitude h penetrates throughout the tree. The main new technical result of the paper is a complete set of orthonormal eigenvectors for the discrete Laplace operator on a Cayley tree.

     

A New Set of Limiting Gibbs Measures for the Ising Model on a Cayley Tree

For the Ising model (with interaction constant J>0) on the Cayley tree of order k≥2 it is known that for the temperature T≥T _c,k =J/arctan?(1/k) the limiting Gibbs measure is unique, and for T<T _c,k there are uncountably many extreme Gibbs measures. In the Letter we show that if \(T\in(T_{c,\sqrt{k}}, T_{c,k_{0}})\), with \(\sqrt{k} then there is a new uncountable set \({\mathcal{G}}_{k,k_{0}}\) of Gibbs measures. Moreover \({\mathcal{G}}_{k,k_{0}}\ne {\mathcal{G}}_{k,k'_{0}}\), for k ₀≠k′₀. Therefore if \(T\in (T_{c,\sqrt{k}}, T_{c,\sqrt{k}+1})\), \(T_{c,\sqrt{k}+1} then the set of limiting Gibbs measures of the Ising model contains the set {known Gibbs measures}\(\cup(\bigcup_{k_{0}:\sqrt{k}.     

Stochastic Resonance and First Arrival Time for Excitable Systems

We study the noise induced thermally activated barrier crossing of Brownian particles that hop in a piecewise linear potential. Using the exact analytic solutions and via numerical simulations not only we explore the dependence for the first passage time of a single particle but also we calculate the first arrival time for one particle out of N particles. The first arrival time decreases as the number of particles increases as expected. We then explore the thermally activated barrier crossing rate of the system in the presence of time varying signal. The dependence of signal to noise ratio SNR as well as the power amplification (\(\eta \)) on model parameters is explored. \(\eta \) and SNR depict a pronounced peak at particular noise strength. In the presence of N particles, \(\eta \) is considerably amplified as N steps up showing the weak periodic signal plays a vital role in controlling the noise induced dynamics of the system. Moreover, for the sake of generality, the viscous friction \(\gamma \) is considered to decrease exponentially when the temperature T of the medium increases (\(\gamma =Be^{-A T}\)) as proposed originally by Reynolds (Philos Trans R Soc Lond 177:157, 1886).     

过阻尼布朗棘轮的斯托克斯效率研究

根据随机能量理论解析得到阻尼环境中布朗粒子的概率流和斯托克斯效率,并进一步研究布朗粒子的输运性能.详细讨论了空间的不对称性、外偏置力及外势结构等对棘轮定向输运的影响.研究发现,合适的外偏置力能使棘轮的定向输运达到最强.通过调节外势的不对称性可使棘轮中粒子的运动反向,当选择合适的空间不对称性时布朗粒子的反向输运可获得最强.此外,一定条件下合适的外势高度也能增强棘轮输运,且能使粒子克服黏滞阻力的斯托克斯效率达到最大.所得结论能够启发实验上设计合适的外势及外偏置来优化布朗棘轮的定向输运性能,并为生物纳米器件的研制提供一定的理论参考.     

温库边界对布朗热机性能的影响

研究了单势垒锯齿势中,布朗粒子在外力和空间周期温度场作用下构成的布朗热机的热力学性能.考虑布朗粒子动能变化以及高、低温库之间热漏引起的热流.用Smoluchowski方程描述粒子在黏性介质中的动力学特性,推导出高、低温库的热流以及热机功率和效率的解析表达式.通过数值计算分析势垒高度、外力和温库边界对热机性能的影响.研究表明:由于动能变化和热漏引起的不可逆热流的存在,布朗热机为不可逆热机,热机的功率效率特性为一闭合的关系曲线;势垒边界与温库边界重合时,热机的功率达到最大值;通过改变温库边界的位置,可以在一定范围内提高热机的效率,但同时减小了热机的输出功率.     

BN thin film as thermal interface mateiral for high power LED: thermal resistance and optical analysis

Over heat in junction temperature of an LED can impact the luminous performance of the lighting system. The more heat extracted from the system, the easier the LEDs can be driven; resulting in more light output and possibly a reduction in the number of LEDs needed to achieve the desired level of light output. Consequently, thin film based thermal interface mateiral (TIM) has been suggested and BN thin film was prepared on Cu substrate which is used as TIM. The 3W green LED was tested with BN thin film interface and observed low $T_{J}$ and total thermal resistance (R $_\mathrm{th-tot})$ value at 700 mA. The $\Delta T_{J}$ was 3.79  $^\circ $ C which was high compared to bare Cu. Overall, BN thin films was performed well on maintaining both the $T_{J}$ and the optical output considerably and could be an alternative for commersial thermal paste.     

Superfluid to Normal Fluid Phase Transition in the Bose Gas Trapped in Two-Dimensional Optical Lattices at Finite Temperature

We develop the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory at finite temperature for Bose gas trapped in the two-dimensional optical lattice with the on-site energy low enough that the gas presents superfluid properties. We obtain the condensate density as function of the temperature neglecting the anomalous density in the thermodynamics equation. The condensate fraction provides two critical temperature. Below the temperature \(T_{C1}\), there is one condensate fraction. Above two condensate fractions merger up to the critical temperature \(T_{C2}\). At temperatures larger than \(T_{C2}\), the condensate fraction is null and, therefore, the gas is normal fluid. We resume by a finite-temperature phase diagram where three domains can be identified: the normal fluid, the superfluid with one stable condensate fraction and the superfluid with two condensate fractions being unstable one of them.     

Gravitational pressure,apparent horizon and thermodynamics of FLRW universe in the teleparallel gravity

In the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity the concept of gravitational pressure and gravitational energy-momentum arisen in a natural way. In the case of a Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker space FLRW we obtain the total energy contained inside the apparent horizon and the radial pressure over the apparent horizon area. We use these definitions to written a thermodynamics relation \(T_{A}dS_{A} = dE_{A}+P_{A}dV_{A}\) at the apparent horizon, where \(E_{A}\) is the total energy inside the apparent horizon, \(V_{A}\) is the areal volume of the apparent horizon, \(P_{A}\) is the radial pressure over the apparent horizon area, \(S_{A}\) is the entropy which can be assumed as one quarter of the apparent horizon area only for a non stationary apparent horizon. We identify \(T_{A}\) as the temperature at the surface of the apparent horizon. We shown that for all expanding accelerated FLRW model of universe the radial pressure is positive.     

Coefficient of Performance at Maximum χ-Criterion for Feynman Ratchet as a Refrigerator

The χ-criterion is defined as the product of the energy conversion efficiency and the heat absorbed per unit time by the working substance [de Tomás et al., Phys. Rev. E 85 (2012) 010104(R)]. The χ-criterion for Feynman ratchet as a refrigerator operating between two heat baths is optimized. Asymptotic solutions of the coefficient of performance at maximum χ-criterion for Feynman ratchet are investigated at both large and small temperature difference. An interpolation formula, which fits the numerical solution very well, is proposed. Besides, the sufficient condition for the universality of the coefficient of performance at maximum χ is investigated.     

Spectral signs of the internal heavy-atom effect in aliphatic carbonyl compounds

The CNDO/S method has been applied to the internal effect of Si on the electronic spectrum of the acetone molecule; there is a considerable bathochromic shift and an increase in the \(S_0 \to S_{n\pi ^ * } \) intensity for theα-silyl ketones, while theβ-silyl ketons give only an increase in the intensity of \(S_0 \to S_{n\pi ^ * } \) absorption relative to acetone. The heavy atom substantially alters \(f_{S_0 \to T_{n\sigma ^* } } \) and \(\tau _{T_{n\sigma ^* } }^0 \) but has little effect on \(f_{S_0 \to T_{n\pi ^* } } \) and \(\tau _{T_{n\pi ^* } }^0 \) .     

Phase Diagram of a Generalized ABC Model on the Interval

We study the equilibrium phase diagram of a generalized ABC model on an interval of the one-dimensional lattice: each site i=1,…,N is occupied by a particle of type α=A,B,C, with the average density of each particle species N _α /N=r _α fixed. These particles interact via a mean field nonreflection-symmetric pair interaction. The interaction need not be invariant under cyclic permutation of the particle species as in the standard ABC model studied earlier. We prove in some cases and conjecture in others that the scaled infinite system N→∞, i/N→x∈[0,1] has a unique density profile ρ _α (x) except for some special values of the r _α for which the system undergoes a second order phase transition from a uniform to a nonuniform periodic profile at a critical temperature \(T_{c}=3\sqrt{r_{A} r_{B} r_{C}}/2\pi\).