A many-body heat engine at criticality
Thomás Fogarty, Thomas Busch
Abstract
Abstract We show that a quantum Otto cycle in which the medium, an interacting ultracold gas, is driven between a superfluid and an insulating phase can outperform similar single particle cycles. The presence of an energy gap between the two phases can be used to improve performance, while the interplay between lattice forces and the particle distribution can lead to a many-body cooperative effect. Since finite time driving of this cycle can create unwanted non-equilibrium dynamics which can significantly impair the performance of the engine cycle, we also design an approximate shortcut to adiabaticity for the many-body state that can be used to achieve an efficient Otto cycle around a critical point.
Topics & Concepts
CriticalityPhysicsHeat engineThermodynamic cycleStatistical physicsSuperfluidityComputer scienceQuantumEnergy (signal processing)Particle (ecology)Control theory (sociology)Brayton cyclePhase (matter)MechanicsPhase transitionLattice (music)Ground stateEngineeringEfficient energy useState (computer science)Single phaseSteady state (chemistry)Energy consumptionMechanical engineeringWork (physics)Quantum phasesAdvanced Thermodynamics and Statistical MechanicsCold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein CondensatesQuantum many-body systems