Universal efficiency boost in prethermal quantum heat engines at negative temperature.

[en] Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic stationary phases. This work explores whether prethermalization enhances or reduces engine efficiency. We investigate Otto cycles in quantum systems with varying numbers of conserved quantities. We find that additional conservation laws reduce efficiency at positive temperatures, but enhance it in regimes of negative temperatures. Our findings stem from general thermodynamic inequalities for infinitesimal cycles, and we provide evidence for integrable models undergoing finite cycles using the theoretical framework of Generalized Hydrodynamics. The relevance of our results for quantum simulators is also discussed.

Disciplines :

Physics

Author, co-author :

Brollo, Alberto ; Department of Mathematics, Technical University of Munich, CIT, Garching, Germany ; Physics Department, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Garching, Germany

DEL CAMPO ECHEVARRIA, Adolfo ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Physics and Materials Science (DPHYMS)

Bastianello, Alvise ; Physics Department, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Garching, Germany. alvise.bastianello@tum.de ; Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), München, Germany. alvise.bastianello@tum.de

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Universal efficiency boost in prethermal quantum heat engines at negative temperature.

Publication date :

25 November 2025

Journal title :

Nature Communications

eISSN :

2041-1723

Publisher :

Springer Science and Business Media LLC, England

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

10593

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-66424-1.pdf

Funders :

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg

Commentary :

7+9 pages, 3+3 figures

Available on ORBilu :

since 16 April 2026

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