Estimating performance of Feynman's ratchet with limited information

DOI10.1088/1751-8113/48/33/335002zbMATH Open1329.82052arXiv1410.2140OpenAlexW3103610562MaRDI QIDQ3448396FDOQ3448396

Authors: George Rubin Thomas, Ramandeep S. Johal 

Publication date: 23 October 2015

Published in: Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We estimate the performance of Feynman's ratchet at given values of the ratio of cold to hot reservoir temperatures ($heta$) and the figure of merit (efficiency in the case of engine and coefficienct of performance in the case of refrigerator). The latter implies that only the ratio of two intrinsic energy scales is known to the observer, but their exact values are completely uncertain. The prior probability distribution for the uncertain energy parameters is argued to be Jeffreys' prior. We define an average measure for performance of the model by averaging, over the prior distribution, the power output (heat engine) or the $chi$-criterion (refrigerator) which is the product of rate of heat absorbed from the cold reservoir and the coefficient of performance. We observe that the figure of merit, at optimal performance close to equilibrium, is reproduced by the prior-averaging procedure. Further, we obtain the well-known expressions of finite-time thermodynamics for the efficiency at optimal power and the coefficient of performance at optimal $chi$-criterion, given by $1-sqrtheta$ and $1/sqrt1-heta-1$ respectively. This analogy is explored further and we point out that the expected heat flow from and to the reservoirs, behaves as an effective Newtonian flow. We also show, in a class of quasi-static models of quantum heat engines, how CA efficiency emerges in asymptotic limit with the use of Jeffreys' prior.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1410.2140

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zbMATH Keywords

Jeffreys priorinferencerefrigeratorprior probabilitiesFeynman ratchet

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum dots, waveguides, ratchets, etc. (81Q37) Irreversible thermodynamics, including Onsager-Machlup theory (82B35) Irreversible thermodynamics, including Onsager-Machlup theory (82C35)

Cited In (3)

• Optimum performance analysis of Feynman's engine as cold and hot ratchets
• Feynman–Smoluchowski engine at high temperatures and the role of constraints
• Performance of Feynman’s ratchet under a trade-off figure of merit: exact analysis versus estimation from prior information

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