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Thermodynamics

A Stirling effort

Nature Physics volume 8, pages 108–109 (2012)Cite this article

The realization of a single-particle Stirling engine pushes thermodynamics into stochastic territory where fluctuations dominate, and points towards a better understanding of energy transduction at the microscale.

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Figure 1: A Stirling engine converts heat into mechanical work by compression and expansion of a working fluid housed in a container in contact with heat baths at different temperatures (shown in red and blue).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jordan M. Horowitz and Juan M. R. Parrondo are in the Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC) and the Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain,

    Jordan M. Horowitz & Juan M. R. Parrondo

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  1. Jordan M. Horowitz
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  2. Juan M. R. Parrondo
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Correspondence to Juan M. R. Parrondo.

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Horowitz, J., Parrondo, J. A Stirling effort. Nature Phys 8, 108–109 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2184

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