Relativistic quantum Otto engine: Instant work extraction from a quantum field

Abstract

In this study, we carry out a non-perturbative approach to a quantum Otto engine, employing an Unruh-DeWitt particle detector to extract work from a quantum Klein-Gordon field in an arbitrary globally hyperbolic curved spacetime. We broaden the scope by considering the field in any quasi-free state, which includes vacuum, thermal, and squeezed states. A key aspect of our method is the instantaneous interaction between the detector and the field, which enables a thorough non-perturbative analysis. We demonstrate that the detector can successfully extract positive work from the quantum Otto cycle, even when two isochoric processes occur instantaneously, provided the detector in the second isochoric process receives a signal from the first interaction. This signaling allows the detector to release heat into the field, thereby the thermodynamic cycle is completed. As a demonstration, we consider a detector at rest in flat spacetime and compute the work extracted from the Minkowski vacuum state.

arXiv comment26 pages, 5 figures;(v2) Added some references in Introduction and added a note at the end of Conclusion; (v3) Added a figure in Fig. 5

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• Transmission of quantum information through quantum fields in curved spacetimes
• An exactly solvable relativistic quantum Otto engine
• Relativistic quantum Otto heat engine using a three-level Unruh-DeWitt detector
• Quantum thermal machines in BTZ black hole spacetime
• Relative entropy formulation of thermalization process in a Schwarzschild spacetime
• Thermodynamic uncertainty relations for relativistic quantum thermal machines