A long-standing law of thermodynamics turns out to have a loophole at the smallest scales. Researchers have shown that quantum engines made of correlated particles can exceed the traditional ...

A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it's the backbone ...

Quantum thermodynamics explores the fundamental principles governing energy conversion at the smallest scales, where quantum effects such as coherence and entanglement significantly influence the ...

Our present understanding of thermodynamics is fundamentally incorrect if applied to small systems and need to be modified, according to new research. The work establishes new laws in the rapidly ...

As with many branches of physics and engineering, a common point of debate and research is: Under what conditions do the classical laws and theories of physics break down and quantum theories are ...

Synchronization scenarios: In the first synchronization scenario (left), there is competition between the effect of small clocks on each other and the effect of the massive wall clock. In the second ...

The young field of quantum thermodynamics, which tries to reconcile quantum theory with the 200-year-old science of heat and entropy, is booming. It’s also causing some heated disputes. Many ...

In the strange, often unintuitive world of quantum physics, one mystery has stood out for decades: Can quantum entanglement be manipulated in a reversible way, like energy in a perfect heat engine?

Just as nuclear power generation uses uranium fission to boil hot water to generate electricity, cutting-edge technology is also an extension of ancient theory and technology. Nicole Junger Halpan, a ...

Physicists in Germany have come up with a way to convert the energy difference between two quantum states of a group of atoms into work. The device adapts the principles of the familiar classical ...

Power boost: a quantum heat engine in synthetic diamond. (Courtesy: Jonas Becker) Physicists have in recent years built a number of microscopic heat engines to investigate how the laws of ...

The young field of quantum thermodynamics, which tries to reconcile quantum theory with the 200-year-old science of heat and entropy, is booming. It’s also causing some heated disputes. Many ...