Constraints on power and efficiency in heat engines and active engines

Patrick Pietzonka (U Edinburgh)

Apr 13. 2021, 16:50 — 17:15

I will give a brief overview of the thermodynamic uncertainty relation and discuss its application to steady-state heat engines. It shows that the constancy of power plays a crucial role in the trade-off between power and efficiency: Getting close to Carnot efficiency at finite output power is only possible at the cost of diverging power fluctuations. Then, I will show examples for isothermal engines driven by a bath of active matter. Here, the overall efficiency is generally low even for highly optimised designs of engines, but collective effects can lead to an enhancement of power and efficiency. 

Further Information
Venue:
Erwin Schrödinger Institute - virtual
Recordings:
Recording
Associated Event:
Interdisciplinary Challenges in Nonequilibrium Physics (Online Workshop)
Organizer(s):
Demian Levis (U Barcelona)
Emanuele Locatelli (U of Vienna)
Jan Smrek (U of Vienna)
Francesco Turci (U Bristol)