Entropy-generated power and its efficiency

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model for a motor that harnesses entropic forces from phase space topology to produce mechanical motion, demonstrating robustness and potential efficiency discontinuities at maximum power.

Contribution

It presents a novel entropic-force-based motor model and analyzes its robustness and efficiency characteristics, including possible discontinuities.

Findings

Mechanical force generation is robust to local parameter changes.

Efficiency at maximum power can exhibit discontinuities.

The model leverages phase space topology for motion generation.

Abstract

We propose a simple model for a motor that generates mechanical motion by exploiting an entropic force arising from the topology of the underlying phase space. We show that the generation of mechanical forces in our system is surprisingly robust to local changes in kinetic and topological parameters. Furthermore, we find that the efficiency at maximum power may show discontinuities.