Fluctuation Relation for Heat Engines

TL;DR

This paper derives an exact fluctuation relation for heat engines that connects heat exchange and work, providing a fundamental statistical framework and recovering Carnot's inequality as a consequence.

Contribution

The paper introduces the fluctuation relation for heat engines (FRHE), a new exact equality linking heat and work statistics in thermodynamic cycles.

Findings

FRHE relates heat exchange and work in heat engines

Carnot's inequality is derived from the FRHE

Provides a fundamental statistical perspective on thermodynamics

Abstract

We derive the exact equality, referred to as the fluctuation relation for heat engines (FRHE), that relates statistics of heat extracted from one of the two heat baths and the work per one cycle of a heat engine operation. Carnot's inequality of classical thermodynamics follows as a direct consequence of the FRHE.