# Stochastic Stirling engine operating in contact with active baths

## TL;DR

This paper investigates a stochastic Stirling engine driven by a nonequilibrium bath modeled as persistent non-Gaussian noise, revealing that its efficiency can match or fall below equilibrium engines depending on the definition of isothermal processes.

## Contribution

It introduces a model of a Stirling engine operating with a nonequilibrium bath characterized by persistent non-Gaussian noise, analyzing how different definitions of isothermal transformations affect its energetics.

## Key findings

- Engine efficiency can match equilibrium counterparts under certain conditions.
- Persistence in the noise significantly impacts the engine's performance.
- The type of noise influences whether the engine operates more or less efficiently.

## Abstract

A Stirling engine made of a colloidal particle in contact with a nonequilibrium bath is considered and analyzed with the tools of stochastic energetics. We model the bath by non Gaussian persistent noise acting on the colloidal particle. Depending on the chosen definition of an isothermal transformation in this nonequilibrium setting, we find that either the energetics of the engine parallels that of its equilibrium counterpart or, in the simplest case, that it ends up being less efficient. Persistence, more than non Gaussian effects, are responsible for this result.