Extracting Work from a Single Thermal Bath via Quantum Negentropy

2001/11/12 by Marlan O. Scully · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Negentropy #Thermal reservoir #Second law of thermodynamics #Entropy (arrow of time) #Heat engine #Heat sink #Quantum thermodynamics #Thermodynamics #Quantum #Thermal #Work (physics) #Physics #Entropy production #Statistical physics #Mechanics #Computer science #Quantum mechanics

paper · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.220601

openalex publication_date 2001/11/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Classical heat engines produce work by operating between a high temperature energy source and a low temperature entropy sink. The present quantum heat engine has no cooler reservoir acting as a sink of entropy but has instead an internal reservoir of negentropy which allows extraction of work from one thermal bath. The process is attended by constantly increasing entropy and does not violate the second law of thermodynamics.

Citations

• Ground State Laser Cooling Using Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
• Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics
• Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

Cited by

• Exotic properties and optimal control of quantum heat engine
• Open quantum systems with local and collective incoherent processes: Efficient numerical simulations using permutational invariance
• Work extraction and Landauer's principle in a quantum spin Hall device
• Second laws for an information driven current through a spin valve
• Zero-point energy [wikipedia]