Heat production and energy balance in nanoengines driven by time-dependent fields

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formalism to analyze heat transport and power in nanoengines driven by time-dependent fields, revealing mechanisms of directed heat flow and energy exchange at slow driving conditions.

Contribution

The work develops a general theoretical framework for heat and energy analysis in quantum systems under time-dependent driving, highlighting mechanisms of heat transport and work exchange.

Findings

Directed heat transport can be induced by ac potentials.

At slow driving, out-of-phase forces perform work with minimal dissipation.

The formalism applies broadly to quantum nanoengines.

Abstract

We present a formalism to study the heat transport and the power developed by the local driving fields on a quantum system coupled to macroscopic reservoirs. We show that, quite generally, two important mechanisms can take place: (i) directed heat transport between reservoirs induced by the ac potentials and (ii) at slow driving, two oscillating out of phase forces perform work against each other, while the energy dissipated into the reservoirs is negligible