Effects of noise-induced coherence on the fluctuations of current in quantum absorption refrigerators.

Abstract

We investigate the effects of noise-induced coherence on average current and current fluctuations in a simple model of a quantum absorption refrigerator with degenerate energy levels. We describe and explain the differences and similarities between the system behavior when it operates in the classical regime, where the populations and coherences in the corresponding quantum optical master equation decouple in a suitably chosen basis, and in the quantum regime, where such a transformation does not exist. The differences between the quantum and the classical cases are observable only close to the maximum current regime, where the system steady-state becomes nonunique. This allows us to approximate the system dynamics by an analytical model based on a dichotomous process that explains the behavior of the average current both in the classical and in the quantum cases. Due to the nonuniqueness, the scaled cumulant generating function for the current at the vicinity of the critical point exhibits behavior reminiscent of the dynamical first-order phase transition. Unless the system parameters are fine-tuned to a single point in the parameter space, the corresponding current fluctuations are moderate in the quantum case and large in the classical case.