Termodinâmica estocástica e eficiência para máquinas térmicas colisionais

Abstract

The performance of endoreversible thermal machines operating at finite power regime constitutes one of the main challenges of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, for classical and quantum systems. In this master's thesis we study the thermodynamic properties of collisional models of quantum dot and Brownian particle nanoscale thermal engines. In the present case, at each time interval, the system interact with a different thermal reservoir and under a different external force (in the Brownian case). The thermal properties are characterized using stochastic thermodynamics and the performance optimization of the engine in relation to different parameters (asymmetric times, forces and other quantities) is analyzed. Our results show that the present approach constitutes an adequate tool / methodology useful in the study of thermal engines working in finite time, in contrast to an idealized Carnot's machine.