In recent years, the study of heat to work conversion has been re-invigorated by
nanotechnology. Steady-state devices do this conversion without any macroscopic moving …

The seminal work by Sadi Carnot in the early nineteenth century provided the blueprint of a
reversible heat engine and the celebrated second law of thermodynamics eventually …

Quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamic laws from quantum
mechanics. The viewpoint advocated is based on the intimate connection of quantum …

The quantum Otto cycle serves as a bridge between the macroscopic world of heat engines
and the quantum regime of thermal devices composed from a single element. We compile …

Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and
refrigerators up to a single few-level system coupled to the environment. Once the …

In order to describe quantum heat engines, here we systematically study isothermal and
isochoric processes for quantum thermodynamic cycles. Based on these results the …

The historical background, research development, and the state-of-the-art of finite time
thermodynamic theory and applications are reviewed from the point of view of both physics …

We investigate the fundamental dimensional limits to thermodynamic machines. In
particular, we show that it is possible to construct self-contained refrigerators (ie, not …

The unavoidable irreversible loss of power in a heat engine is found to be of quantum origin.
Following thermodynamic tradition, a model quantum heat engine operating in an Otto cycle …

In this review, the debated rapport between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics is
addressed in the framework of the theory of periodically driven/controlled quantum …