Thermodynamics of adiabatic quantum pumping in quantum dots

Abstract

We consider adiabatic quantum pumping through a resonant level model, a single-level quantum dot connected to two fermionic leads. Using the tools of adiabatic expansion, we develop a self-contained thermodynamic description of this model accounting for the variation of the energy level of the dot and the tunnelling rates with the thermal baths. This enables us to study various examples of pumping cycles computing the relevant thermodynamic quantities, such as the entropy produced and the dissipated power. These quantities are compared with the transport properties of the system, i.e. the pumped charge and the charge noise. Among other results, we find that the entropy production rate vanishes in the charge quantization limit while the dissipated power is quantized in the same limit.