Unruh quantum Otto engine in the presence of a reflecting boundary

Abstract

We introduce a new model of relativistic quantum analogue of the classical Otto engine in the presence of a perfectly reflecting boundary. A single qubit acts as the working substance interacting with a massless quantum scalar field, with the boundary obeying the Dirichlet condition. The quantum vacuum serves as a thermal bath through the Unruh effect. We observe that the response function of the qubit gets significantly modified by the presence of the reflecting boundary. From the structure of the correlation function, we find that three different cases emerge, namely, the intermediate boundary regime, the near boundary regime, and the far boundary regime. As expected, the correlation in the far boundary regime approaches that of the Unruh quantum Otto engine (UQOE) when the reflecting boundary goes to infinity. The effect of the reflecting boundary is manifested through the reduction of the critical excitation probability of the qubit and the work output of the engine. In spite of the reduced work output, the efficiency of the engine remains unaltered even in the presence of the boundary.

Version accepted in JHEP

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• Relativistic quantum Otto heat engine using a three-level Unruh-DeWitt detector
• Single and entangled atomic systems in thermal bath and the Fulling-Davies-Unruh effect
• Current, quantum transport and entropic force of bosonic systems interacting with two thermal reservoirs
• Thermodynamic uncertainty relations for relativistic quantum thermal machines
• Quantum regression theorem in the Unruh-DeWitt battery