A generic approach to thermal machines with quantum gases

Saikat Sur, Arnab Ghosh

Published 2022-06-08Version 1

It has been shown in literature that a single quantum particle can be realized as a thermodynamic machine as an artefact of energy quantization and hence bears no classical analogue. Yet its behaviour can be substantially different if we consider a collection of non-interacting massive indistinguishable quantum particles. Such a thermodynamic machine depends on the statistics of the particles, the chemical potential and the dimensionality of the system. Our detailed analysis demonstrates the fundamental features of quantum Stirling cycles from the view-point of particle-statistics and system dimensions that helps us to realize the desired quantum heat engines and refrigerators by exploiting the role of quantum statistical mechanics. In particular, we have shown that distinctive behaviour of particle statistics is quite pertinent in one dimension than in higher dimensions, indicating the conspicuous role of quantum thermodynamic signature in lower dimensions.