From single-shot to general work extraction with bounded fluctuations in work

TL;DR

This paper investigates how limiting work fluctuations impacts thermodynamic efficiency and work extraction, bridging standard and single-shot thermodynamics, with implications for nano-scale thermal machines.

Contribution

It introduces a framework to analyze work and its fluctuations under bounded conditions, connecting free energy concepts with fluctuation constraints in thermodynamics.

Findings

Work fluctuations can diverge in reversible processes.

Bounding fluctuations modifies thermodynamic efficiency and irreversibility.

Derived corrections to Carnot efficiency for a qubit engine.

Abstract

In the standard framework of thermodynamics the work produced or consumed in a process is a random variable whose average value is bounded by the change in the free energy of the system. This work is calculated without regard for the size of its fluctuations. We find that in some processes, such as reversible cooling, the fluctuations of the work can diverge. Small or fragile thermal machines may be unable to cope with large fluctuations. Hence, with the present focus on nano- scale thermodynamics, we analyse how thermodynamic efficiency rates are modified when the size of the fluctuations around the average is restricted. We quantify the work content and work of formation of any state when the work fluctuations are bounded by a given amount c. By varying c we interpolate between the standard free energy c = infinity and the min-free energy c = 0, defined in the context of single-shot thermodynamics. We derive fundamental relations between average work and its fluctuations, and explore the emergence of irreversibility and partial order on state transformations when bounding fluctuations. We also study the efficiency a single qubit thermal engine model with constrained fluctuations, and derive the corrections to the Carnot efficiency.