Violation of kinetic uncertainty relation in maser heat engines: Role of spontaneous emission
Phys. Rev. A 113, 012212 – Published 6 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qgpx-3pkf
Abstract
We investigate the kinetic uncertainty relation (KUR)—a fundamental trade-off between dynamical activity and current fluctuations—in two configurations of a maser heat engine. We find that KUR violations arise only in one model. This asymmetry originates from spontaneous emission, which breaks the structural symmetry between the configurations and modifies their coherence dynamics. While we analyze several contributing factors, including statistical signatures such as the Fano factor and the ratio of dynamical activity to current, our results show that the decisive mechanism is the slower decoherence in one configuration, which enables quantum violations of the classical steady-state KUR bound. By contrast, the faster coherence decay in the other configuration suppresses such violations, driving it closer to classical behavior. These findings highlight the critical role of decoherence mechanisms in determining fundamental thermodynamic bounds and provide insights for the design of quantum heat engines in which the control of decoherence is central to suppressing fluctuations and enhancing reliable performance.
