The Carnot Cycle for Small Systems: Irreversibility and the Cost of Operations

Details The Carnot Cycle for Small Systems: Irreversibility and the Cost of Operations The Carnot Cycle for Small Systems: Irreversibility and the Cost of Operations

1999-04-22

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9904322v2

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

11 pages with 3 figures. Resubmitted to Physical Review E. Many paragraphs have been modified

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevE.62.7759

We employ the recently developed framework of the energetics of stochastic processes (called `stochastic energetics'), to re-analyze the Carnot cycle in detail, taking account of fluctuations, without taking the thermodynamic limit. We find that both processes of connection to and disconnection from heat baths and adiabatic processes that cause distortion of the energy distribution are sources of inevitable irreversibility within the cycle. Also, the so-called null-recurrence property of the cumulative efficiency of energy conversion over many cycles and the irreversible property of isolated, purely mechanical processes under external `macroscopic' operations are discussed in relation to the impossibility of a perpetual machine, or Maxwell's demon.

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