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    Unified approach to power-efficiency trade-off relations of generic thermal machines

    Yu-Han Ma1,2,* and Cong Fu1,3,†

    • *Contact author: yhma@bnu.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: fucong@stu.xmu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. E 112, 054130 – Published 18 November, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bvlw-rvvv

    Abstract

    We present a general framework for determining the power-efficiency trade-off relations across arbitrary thermal machines, addressing the lack of unified optimization results stemming from their diverse functionalities (e.g., heat engines, refrigerators, and heat pumps). For time-dependent cycle irreversibility A(τ) following a τ−α power law, where α is an interaction-dependent parameter, we show that engineering the interactions between thermal machines and reservoirs enables control over the trade-off relations, with the efficiency at maximum power approaching Carnot efficiency as α increases. Setting α=1 naturally recovers typical low-dissipation regime results. Additionally, we derive the first power-efficiency trade-off for finite-time quantum adiabatic Otto machines with τ−2-scaling. This work establishes a unified constraint for thermodynamic cycles across nonequilibrium regimes, facilitating consistent optimization of diverse thermal devices in practice.

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