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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2025
The efficiency of classical heat engines is bounded by the Carnot efficiency leading to vanishing power. Efficiency at maximum power is often related to the Curzon–Ahlborn efficiency. As a paradigm for a periodic stochastic heat engine, a Brownian particle in a harmonic potential is sequentially coupled to two heat baths. For a simple steady-state heat engine, a two-state model coupled permanently to two heat baths leads to transport against an external force or against an imposed electrochemical potential. Affinities and Onsager coefficients in the linear response regime are determined. The identification of exchanged heat in the presence of particle transport is shown to be somewhat ambiguous.
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