Minimizing Dissipation via Interacting Environments: Quadratic Convergence to Landauer Bound

Area of Science:

• Quantum thermodynamics
• Statistical mechanics
• Condensed matter physics

Background:

• Cooling quantum systems is crucial for quantum technologies.
• Thermodynamic irreversibility, measured by entropy production, limits cooling efficiency.
• Finite-size reservoirs introduce unique challenges compared to infinite ones.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the fundamental limits of thermodynamic irreversibility in quantum cooling with finite-size reservoirs.
• To develop novel cooling protocols that overcome limitations imposed by noninteracting reservoirs.
• To explore the role of reservoir interactions and phase transitions in enhancing cooling efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis of entropy production scaling for noninteracting n-particle reservoirs.
• Derivation of a new cooling protocol utilizing interacting finite-size reservoirs.
• Numerical simulations of reservoir configurations, including star-network models.

Main Results:

• Entropy production scales at most linearly with the number of particles (n) in noninteracting reservoirs.
• A novel protocol achieves optimal entropy production scaling of Σ∝1/n², possible with interacting reservoirs near a phase transition.
• Intermediate scaling (Σ∝1/n^δ, δ∈(1,2)) demonstrated with star-network reservoirs.

Conclusions:

• Interacting finite-size reservoirs offer superior cooling efficiency compared to noninteracting ones.
• Preparing reservoirs at the verge of a phase transition is key to achieving optimal cooling.
• This work paves the way for more energetically efficient quantum cooling technologies.