Abstract: We present a detailed study of quantum thermal machines employing quantum systems as working substances. In particular, we study two different types of two-stroke cycles where two collections of identical quantum systems with evenly spaced energy levels are initially prepared at thermal equilibrium by putting them in contact with a cold and a hot thermal bath, respectively. The two cycles differ in the absence or the presence of a mediator system, while, in both cases, non-resonant exchange Hamiltonians are exploited as particle interactions. W...
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Topics: 
Quantum mechanics
Statistical physics