Efficiency Fluctuations of Stochastic Machines Undergoing a Phase Transition
Hadrien Vroylandt, Massimiliano Esposito, Gatien Verley
Abstract
We study the efficiency fluctuations of a stochastic heat engine made of N interacting unicyclic machines and undergoing a phase transition in the macroscopic limit. Depending on N and on the observation time, the machine can explore its whole phase space or not. This affects the engine efficiency that either strongly fluctuates on a large interval of equiprobable efficiencies (ergodic case) or fluctuates close to several most likely values (nonergodic case). We also provide a proof that despite the phase transition, the decay rate of the efficiency distribution at the reversible efficiency remains largest one although other efficiencies can now decay equally fast.
Topics & Concepts
Ergodic theoryPhase spaceStatistical physicsPhase transitionPhysicsInterval (graph theory)Limit (mathematics)Phase (matter)Distribution (mathematics)Computer scienceMathematicsThermodynamicsQuantum mechanicsCombinatoricsMathematical analysisAdvanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanicsstochastic dynamics and bifurcationQuantum Mechanics and Applications