{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T22:28:46Z","timestamp":1768256926076,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Verein zur Forderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,23]],"date-time":"2020-12-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608681600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Quantum"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The minimal-coupling quantum heat engine is a thermal machine consisting of an explicit energy storage system, heat baths, and a working body, which alternatively couples to subsystems through discrete strokes --- energy-conserving two-body quantum operations. Within this paradigm, we present a general framework of quantum thermodynamics, where a work extraction process is fundamentally limited by a flow of non-passive energy (ergotropy), while energy dissipation is expressed through a flow of passive energy. It turns out that small dimensionality of the working body and a restriction only to two-body operations make the engine fundamentally irreversible. Our main result is finding the optimal efficiency and work production per cycle within the whole class of irreversible minimal-coupling engines composed of three strokes and with the two-level working body, where we take into account all possible quantum correlations between the working body and the battery. One of the key new tools is the introduced ``control-marginal state\" --- one which acts only on a working body Hilbert space, but encapsulates all features regarding work extraction of the total working body-battery system. In addition, we propose a generalization of the many-stroke engine, and we analyze efficiency vs extracted work trade-offs, as well as work fluctuations after many cycles of the running of the engine.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.22331\/q-2020-12-23-375","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,23]],"date-time":"2020-12-23T11:52:23Z","timestamp":1608724343000},"page":"375","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Thermodynamics of Minimal Coupling Quantum Heat Engines"],"prefix":"10.22331","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Marcin","family":"\u0141obejko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4251-3253","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pawe\u0142","family":"Mazurek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"},{"name":"International Centre for Theory of Quantum Technologies, University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0446-3059","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Micha\u0142","family":"Horodecki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"},{"name":"International Centre for Theory of Quantum Technologies, University of Gda\u0144sk, 80-308 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}]}],"member":"9598","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"0","unstructured":"Johannes Ro\u00dfnagel, Samuel T. 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