Thermodynamics of underdamped Brownian collisional engines: New insights and resonant phenomena

TL;DR

This paper explores underdamped Brownian collisional engines, revealing that they outperform overdamped ones and exhibit a resonant regime that enhances efficiency and power, emphasizing the importance of dynamics and protocols.

Contribution

It introduces underdamped collisional engines and compares their performance to overdamped engines, highlighting the resonant phenomena that improve efficiency and power output.

Findings

Underdamped engines outperform overdamped counterparts.

Resonant regime enhances efficiency and power.

Optimal performance depends on dynamics and driving protocols.

Abstract

Collisional Brownian engines have been proposed as alternatives for nonequilibrium nanoscale engines. However, most studies have focused on the simpler overdamped case, leaving the role of inertia much less explored. In this work, we introduce the idea of collisional engines to underdamped Brownian particles, where each stage is sequentially subjected to a distinct driving force. A careful comparison between the performance of underdamped and overdamped Brownian work-to-work engines has been undertaken. The results show that underdamped Brownian engines generally outperform their overdamped counterparts. A key difference is the presence of a resonant regime in underdamped engines, in which both efficiency and power output are enhanced across a broad set of parameters. Our study highlights the importance of carefully selecting dynamics and driving protocols to achieve optimal engine performance.