Abstract
Two different diagnostic-based schemes to determine the performance of quantum Otto engines are compared; their stark differences demonstrate the importance of incorporating the effects of measurements on the properties of such quantum devices.
Highlights
Heat engines have been important devices from a technological perspective, but they played a significant role in establishing and examining the laws of thermodynamics [1]
The impacts of two diagnostic schemes to determine the performance of quantum Otto heat engines are compared: In one scheme, the energy of the engine’s working substance is measured after each stroke, and in the other one, the energies after each stroke are recorded in one or two pointer states and measured only after the completion of a prescribed number of cycles
Because in the repeated contact scheme, the number of measurements is drastically reduced compared to the repeated measurement scheme, the quantum coherence after and during the contact diagnostics is much better maintained than for repeated measurements that destroy any coherence at the end of each stroke
Summary
Heat engines have been important devices from a technological perspective, but they played a significant role in establishing and examining the laws of thermodynamics [1]. If the interference of the system with a particular monitoring device is specified, e.g., in terms of two projective energy measurements in the two-point measurement scheme or by two subsequent interactions of the system with the same pointer state of a measurement apparatus [38], or by any other generalized measurement scheme [41], work can be properly specified as a random variable at the price that its probability distribution depends on the chosen measurement procedure This principle restriction still leaves the possibility to look for detection schemes that optimize particular features such as the accuracy or the amount of back action on the system, to name just two possibly complementary criteria.
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