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  • Open Access

Quantum Otto cycle in the Anderson impurity model

Salvatore Gatto1,*, Alessandra Colla1,2,3,†, Heinz-Peter Breuer1,4, and Michael Thoss1

  • *Contact author: salvatore.gatto@physik.uni-freiburg.de
  • †Contact author: alessandra.colla@physik.uni-freiburg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033233 – Published 25 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t45v-bg7h

Abstract

We study the thermodynamic performance of a periodic quantum Otto cycle operating on the single-impurity Anderson model. Using a decomposition of the time-evolution generator based on the principle of minimal dissipation, combined with the numerically exact hierarchical equations of motion method, we analyze the operating regimes of the quantum thermal machine and investigate effects of Coulomb interactions, strong system-reservoir coupling, and energy level alignments. Our results show that Coulomb interaction can change the operating regimes and may lead to an enhancement of the efficiency.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033233– Published 25 August, 2026
  • Received 30 January 2026
  • Accepted 16 July 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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