Maximizing Free Energy Gain
Maximizing the amount of work harvested from an environment is important for a wide variety of biological and technological processes, from energy-harvesting processes such as photosynthesis to energy storage systems such as fuels and batteries. Here, we consider the maximization of free energy—and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Entropy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/27/1/91 |
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| author | Artemy Kolchinsky Iman Marvian Can Gokler Zi-Wen Liu Peter Shor Oles Shtanko Kevin Thompson David Wolpert Seth Lloyd |
| author_facet | Artemy Kolchinsky Iman Marvian Can Gokler Zi-Wen Liu Peter Shor Oles Shtanko Kevin Thompson David Wolpert Seth Lloyd |
| author_sort | Artemy Kolchinsky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Maximizing the amount of work harvested from an environment is important for a wide variety of biological and technological processes, from energy-harvesting processes such as photosynthesis to energy storage systems such as fuels and batteries. Here, we consider the maximization of free energy—and by extension, the maximum extractable work—that can be gained by a classical or quantum system that undergoes driving by its environment. We consider how the free energy gain depends on the initial state of the system while also accounting for the cost of preparing the system. We provide simple necessary and sufficient conditions for increasing the gain of free energy by varying the initial state. We also derive simple formulae that relate the free energy gained using the optimal initial state rather than another suboptimal initial state. Finally, we demonstrate that the problem of finding the optimal initial state may have two distinct regimes, one easy and one difficult, depending on the temperatures used for preparation and work extraction. We illustrate our results on a simple model of an information engine. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1c33dbfc07594b3abe8d309b9a04dd6b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj-art-1c33dbfc07594b3abe8d309b9a04dd6b2025-01-24T13:31:58ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002025-01-012719110.3390/e27010091Maximizing Free Energy GainArtemy Kolchinsky0Iman Marvian1Can Gokler2Zi-Wen Liu3Peter Shor4Oles Shtanko5Kevin Thompson6David Wolpert7Seth Lloyd8Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, SpainPhysics and Electrical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USASchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAYau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaDepartment of Mathematics, Center for Theoretical Physics and CSAIL, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAIBM Quantum Almaden, San Jose, CA 95120, USASandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USASanta Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USADepartment of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAMaximizing the amount of work harvested from an environment is important for a wide variety of biological and technological processes, from energy-harvesting processes such as photosynthesis to energy storage systems such as fuels and batteries. Here, we consider the maximization of free energy—and by extension, the maximum extractable work—that can be gained by a classical or quantum system that undergoes driving by its environment. We consider how the free energy gain depends on the initial state of the system while also accounting for the cost of preparing the system. We provide simple necessary and sufficient conditions for increasing the gain of free energy by varying the initial state. We also derive simple formulae that relate the free energy gained using the optimal initial state rather than another suboptimal initial state. Finally, we demonstrate that the problem of finding the optimal initial state may have two distinct regimes, one easy and one difficult, depending on the temperatures used for preparation and work extraction. We illustrate our results on a simple model of an information engine.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/27/1/91nonequilibrium thermodynamicsfree energyquantum mechanics |
| spellingShingle | Artemy Kolchinsky Iman Marvian Can Gokler Zi-Wen Liu Peter Shor Oles Shtanko Kevin Thompson David Wolpert Seth Lloyd Maximizing Free Energy Gain Entropy nonequilibrium thermodynamics free energy quantum mechanics |
| title | Maximizing Free Energy Gain |
| title_full | Maximizing Free Energy Gain |
| title_fullStr | Maximizing Free Energy Gain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Maximizing Free Energy Gain |
| title_short | Maximizing Free Energy Gain |
| title_sort | maximizing free energy gain |
| topic | nonequilibrium thermodynamics free energy quantum mechanics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/27/1/91 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT artemykolchinsky maximizingfreeenergygain AT imanmarvian maximizingfreeenergygain AT cangokler maximizingfreeenergygain AT ziwenliu maximizingfreeenergygain AT petershor maximizingfreeenergygain AT olesshtanko maximizingfreeenergygain AT kevinthompson maximizingfreeenergygain AT davidwolpert maximizingfreeenergygain AT sethlloyd maximizingfreeenergygain |