Combustion

Maximum power principle

Mathematical analysis

Chemistry

Entropy production

Upper and lower bounds

Power (physics)

Heat engine

Quantum

Physics

Carnot cycle

Organic chemistry

Mathematics

Quantum mechanics

Computer science

Entropy (arrow of time)

Statistical physics

Quantum thermodynamics

Thermal efficiency

Thermodynamics

Physical Review Letters

Thermodynamic uncertainty relations express a trade-off between precision, defined as the noise-to-signal ratio of a generic current, and the amount of associated entropy production. These results have deep consequences for autonomous heat engines operating at steady state, imposing an upper bound for their efficiency in terms of the power yield and its fluctuations. In the present Letter we analyze a different class of heat engines, namely, those which are operating in the periodic slow-driving regime. We show that an alternative TUR is satisfied, which is less restrictive than that of steady-state engines: it allows for engines that produce finite power, with small power fluctuations, to operate close to reversibility. The bound further incorporates the effect of quantum fluctuations, which reduces engine efficiency relative to the average power and reliability. We finally illustrate our findings in the experimentally relevant model of a single-ion heat engine.

Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation in Slowly Driven Quantum Heat Engines