The role of charge in thermodynamic uncertainty relations

Abstract

We demonstrate that the charge value of transport mechanisms heavily impacts the validity of thermodynamic uncertainty relations (TURs). Specifically, we show within the framework of full counting statistics, that the recently established quantum TUR can be violated by the presence of transport processes that carry more than one charge, like Andreev reflection processes in normal metal-superconductor junctions. We propose a modified quantum TUR, which incorporates the charge value and demonstrate that this charge-dependent quantum TUR can only be violated if the highest charge transport process exceeds this charge value. In particular, we establish that the breaking of the quantum TUR solely originates from the charge value of the highest charge transport process. Namely, our analytical considerations do not invoke the existence of superconductivity, and these considerations generally hold for non-interacting electronic transport which can be described by the scattering formalism.