Event Type: IFIMAColloquium
Title: What constrains the precision of a quantum heat engine?
When: Monday, 14th September, 2026, at 12:00h
Where: Sala de Grados, Building C, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Speaker: Janine Splettstösser, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
In small-scale thermodynamic devices, fluctuations play an important role (in contrast to standard classical thermodynamics). While close to equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation theorems prescribe how the fluctuations are connected to the desired average output of a device, this is much more difficult to identify far from equilibrium.
Interestingly, the thermodynamic properties of a process or of a system constrain fluctuations. This has been studied in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic uncertainty relation (TURs and KURs) – in particular in weakly coupled open quantum systems. However, steady-state thermoelectric heat engines operate typically far from equilibrium and the coupling to contacts can be strong.
In this presentation, I will show our recent results on thermodynamic and kinetic constraints on fluctuations. I will focus on implications for quantum heat engines, namely quantum systems subject to temperature differences which can be exploited for power production at small scales.
- L. Tesser, J. Splettstoesser: Out-of-Equilibrium Fluctuation-Dissipation Bounds. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 186304 (2024)
- L. Tesser, J. Balduque, J. Splettstoesser: Fluctuation-dissipation bounds for time-dependently driven conductors. arXiv:2509.07583 (2025)
- D. Palmqvist, L. Tesser, J. Splettstoesser: Kinetic Uncertainty Relations for Quantum Transport. Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 166302 (2025)
- D. Palmqvist, L. Tesser, J. Splettstoesser: Combining kinetic and thermodynamic uncertainty relations in quantum transport. Quantum Sci. Technol. 10, 035059 (2025)
- D. Palmqvist, L. Tesser, J. Splettstoesser: Susceptibility-kinetic uncertainty relations for quantum systems. arXiv:2607.01035 (2026)
