Advisory Committee Chair
Ryoichi Kawai
Advisory Committee Members
Chen Cheng-Chien
Hilton J David
Camata P Renato
Simien E Clayton
Stolz Gunter
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2017
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
A systematic study of a quantum heat engine is presented in this thesis. In particular, we study heat conduction through a two-two level composite system, which is then connected to a photon cavity to extract work, forming an autonomous quantum heat engine. The question as to what extent quantum effects such as quantum coherence and correlations impact thermodynamic properties of such a system is addressed. The investigated heat engine has been previously studied using the popular Born-Markovian quantum master equation under weak internal coupling approximation. However, we show that the used approach is quite limited in addressing such problems as it is incapable of correctly accounting for the quantum effects. By using a non-Markovian approach involving hierarchical equations of motion, we show that quantum coherence and correlations between system and environments play a significant role in energy transfer processes of heat conduction and work.
Recommended Citation
Goyal, Ketan Goyal, "Non-Markovian Investigation of an Autonomous Quantum Heat Engine" (2017). All ETDs from UAB. 1774.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1774