Second-law-allowed temporal cooling of the coldest reservoir without external refrigeration

Abstract

Non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics is an intensively developing field with many existing applications. We study the dynamics of temperatures and chemical potentials of fermionic reservoirs coupled to an open quantum system. We show that heat transfer from the coldest reservoir to the hottest one is allowed by the Clausius inequality and results in transient cooling of the coldest reservoir without additional external refrigeration. We show that during the establishment of thermal and chemical equilibrium, non-monotone evolution of reservoirs' temperatures and chemical potentials is possible, including changes in reservoirs' temperatures and chemical potentials orderliness. Achieved results can be used in the design of quantum thermal machines and nanoelectronic devices.