Autonomous implementation of thermodynamic cycles at the nanoscale

TL;DR

This paper presents an autonomous nanoscale thermodynamic cycle model using self-oscillations, bridging stochastic and quantum thermodynamics paradigms, and discusses its practical feasibility with single-electron and few-electron systems.

Contribution

It introduces an autonomous model implementing thermodynamic cycles at the nanoscale via self-oscillations, connecting two thermodynamic paradigms and analyzing experimental feasibility.

Findings

Single-electron cycles are insufficient for thermodynamic analysis.

Few-electron systems could justify thermodynamic cycle assumptions.

Challenges remain in autonomously realizing Carnot and Otto cycles.

Abstract

There are two paradigms to study nanoscale engines in stochastic and quantum thermodynamics. Autonomous models, which do not rely on any external time-dependence, and models that make use of time-dependent control fields, often combined with dividing the control protocol into idealized strokes of a thermodynamic cycle. While the latter paradigm offers theoretical simplifications, its utility in practice has been questioned due to the involved approximations. Here, we bridge the two paradigms by constructing an autonomous model, which implements a thermodynamic cycle in a certain parameter regime. This effect is made possible by self-oscillations, realized in our model by the well studied electron shuttling mechanism. Based on experimentally realistic values, we find that a thermodynamic cycle analysis for a single-electron working fluid is {\it not} justified, but a few-electron working fluid could suffice to justify it. Furthermore, additional open challenges remain to autonomously implement the more studied Carnot and Otto cycles.