Adaptive Quantum Heat Engines

Abstract: For heat engines working between two heat baths, functionality is often conditioned on a set of fixed constraints such as given internal structure of the engine and given temperatures for the baths. It is, however, important to devise heat engines which can function adaptively, in particular when the engine is a quantum system and the baths are subject to fluctuations. Here we study a model for an adaptive quantum heat engine whose heat baths can have variable temperatures. We obtain conditions under which such an engine can still operate. Moreover, we propose an enhancement of the heat engine by coupling it with an appropriate controller which changes the internal structure of the engine. Interestingly, we prove that this enhanced engine can always operate and we also obtain conditions for maximum power extraction from this engine for all temperatures of the heat baths.