Unified geometric formalism for dissipation and its fluctuations in finite-time microscopic heat engines

Gentaro Watanabe; Guo-Hua Xu; Yuki Minami

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arXiv · 2604.04620

Unified geometric formalism for dissipation and its fluctuations in finite-time microscopic heat engines

Gentaro Watanabe·Guo-Hua Xu·Yuki Minami

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Abstract

Microscopic heat engines operate in regimes where thermodynamic quantities fluctuate strongly, making stochastic effects an essential aspect of their performance. However, existing geometric formulations of finite-time thermodynamics primarily characterize average dissipation and do not systematically capture its fluctuations. Here, we develop a unified geometric framework that consistently describes both the mean dissipated availability and its fluctuations. In the linear-response regime, we show that these quantities are governed by metric tensors constructed from equilibrium correlation functions, providing a common geometric structure for dissipation and its fluctuations. This framework yields geometric bounds on both the mean and variance of the dissipated availability, and thereby on the efficiency and its fluctuations. The formalism applies broadly to stochastic systems, including Markov jump processes and overdamped and underdamped Brownian dynamics, establishing a unified geometric description across microscopic heat engines.

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Gentaro Watanabe, Guo-Hua Xu, Yuki Minami. 2026-04-06. Unified geometric formalism for dissipation and its fluctuations in finite-time microscopic heat engines. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04620

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