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Quantum Stirling heat engine and refrigerator with single and coupled spin systems

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Abstract

We study the reversible quantum Stirling cycle with a single spin or two coupled spins as the working substance. With the single spin as the working substance, we find that under certain conditions the reversed cycle of a heat engine is NOT a refrigerator, this feature holds true for a Stirling heat engine with an ion trapped in a shallow potential as its working substance. The efficiency of quantum Stirling heat engine can be higher than the efficiency of the Carnot engine, but the performance coefficient of the quantum Stirling refrigerator is always lower than its classical counterpart. With two coupled spins as the working substance, we find that a heat engine can turn to a refrigerator due to the increasing of the coupling constant, this can be explained by the properties of the isothermal line in the magnetic field-entropy plane.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Electronic Technology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, P.R. China

    Xiao-Li Huang & Xin-Ya Niu

  2. School of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China

    Xiao-Ming Xiu & Xue-Xi Yi

  3. College of Mathematics and Physics, Bohai University, Jinzhou, 121013, P.R. China

    Xiao-Ming Xiu

Authors
  1. Xiao-Li Huang
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  2. Xin-Ya Niu
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  3. Xiao-Ming Xiu
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  4. Xue-Xi Yi
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Correspondence to Xiao-Li Huang or Xue-Xi Yi.

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Huang, XL., Niu, XY., Xiu, XM. et al. Quantum Stirling heat engine and refrigerator with single and coupled spin systems. Eur. Phys. J. D 68, 32 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40536-0

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