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Precision of an autonomous demon exploiting nonthermal resources and information

Juliette Monsel1, Matteo Acciai1,2,3, Didrik Palmqvist1, Nicolas Chiabrando1, Rafael Sánchez4,5,6, and Janine Splettstoesser1

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 195442 – Published 27 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hnqk-6rcx

Abstract

Quantum-dot systems serve as nanoscale heat engines exploiting thermal fluctuations to perform a useful task. Here we investigate a multiterminal triple-dot system, operating as a refrigerator that extracts heat from a cold electronic contact. In contrast to standard heat engines, this system exploits a nonthermal resource. This has the intriguing consequence that cooling can occur without extracting energy from the resource on average—a seemingly demonic action—while, however, requiring the resource to fluctuate. Using full counting statistics and stochastic trajectories, we analyze the performance of the device in terms of the cooling-power precision, employing performance quantifiers motivated by the thermodynamic and kinetic uncertainty relations. We focus on two regimes with large output power, which are based on two operational principles: exploiting information on one hand and the nonthermal properties of the resource on the other. We show that these regimes significantly differ in precision. In particular, the regime exploiting the nonthermal properties of the resource can have cooling-power fluctuations that are suppressed with respect to the input fluctuations by an order of magnitude. We also substantiate the interpretation of the two different working principles by analyzing cross-correlations between input and output heat currents and information flow.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 195442– Published 27 May, 2026
  • Received 16 October 2025
  • Revised 19 February 2026
  • Accepted 21 April 2026
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