Entropy production in a photovoltaic cell

We evaluate entropy production in a photovoltaic cell that is modeled by four electronic levels resonantly coupled to thermally populated field modes at different temperatures. We use a formalism recently proposed, the so-called multiple parallel worlds, to consistently address the nonlinearity of entropy in terms of density matrix. Our result shows that entropy production is the difference between two flows: a semiclassical flow that linearly depends on occupational probabilities, and another flow that depends nonlinearly on quantum coherence and has no semiclassical analog. We show that entropy production in the cells depends on environmentally induced decoherence time and energy detuning. We characterize regimes where reversal flow of information takes place from a cold to hot bath. Interestingly, we identify a lower bound on entropy production, which sets limitations on the statistics of dissipated heat in the cells.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Exact correspondence between Renyi entropy flows and physical flows

We present a universal relation between the flow of a Renyi entropy and the full counting statistics of energy transfers. We prove the exact relation for a flow to a system in thermal equilibrium that is weakly coupled to an arbitrary time-dependent and non-equilibrium system. The exact correspondence, given by this relation, provides a simple protocol to quantify the flows of Shannon and Renyi entropies from the measurements of energy transfer statistics.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Phase-coexisting patterns, horizontal segregation and controlled convection in vertically vibrated binary granular mixtures

We report new patterns, consisting of coexistence of sub-harmonic/harmonic and asynchronous states [for example, a granular gas co-existing with (i) bouncing bed, (ii) undulatory subharmonic waves and (iii) Leidenfrost-like state], in experiments on vertically vibrated binary granular mixtures in a Heleshaw-type cell. Most experiments have been carried out with equimolar binary mixtures of glass and steel balls of same diameter by varying the total layer-height ($F$) for a range of shaking acceleration ($\Gamma$). All patterns as well as the related phase-diagram in the ($\Gamma, F$)-plane have been reproduced via molecular dynamics simulations of the same system. The segregation of heavier and lighter particles along the horizontal direction is shown to be the progenitor of such phase-coexisting patterns as confirmed in both experiment and simulation. At strong shaking we uncover a {\it partial} convection state in which a pair of convection rolls is found to coexist with a Leidenfrost-like state. The crucial role of the relative number density of two species on controlling the buoyancy-driven granular convection is demonstrated. A possible model for spontaneous horizontal segregation is suggested based on anisotropic diffusion