https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00085-1
Review
Roles of quantum coherences in thermal machines
1
Quantum Research Group, School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4001, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
2
National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), 4001, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
3
School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, 34141, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Received:
29
May
2020
Accepted:
7
January
2021
Published online:
12
April
2021
Some of the oldest and most important applications of thermodynamics are operations of refrigeration as well as production of useful energy. Part of the efforts to understand and develop thermodynamics in the quantum regime have been focusing on harnessing quantum effects to such operations. In this review, we present the recent developments regarding the role of quantum coherences in the performances of thermal machines—the devices realising the above thermodynamic operations. While this is known to be an intricate subject, in part because being largely model-dependent, the review of the recent results allows us to identify some general tendencies and to suggest some future directions.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
