Pareto-optimal work extraction and the thermodynamic cost of precision in quantum information engines

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2607.14973v1
• Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:28:49 GMT
• Title: Pareto-optimal work extraction and the thermodynamic cost of precision in quantum information engines
• Abstract summary: We find a trade-off between extractable work and its fluctuations in a quantum information engine.<n>We show that reducing fluctuations entails higher thermodynamic costs.<n>Our results provide a compact description of the trade-offs between work, its fluctuations, and thermodynamic costs in quantum information engines.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: We study a finite-time quantum information engine in which a two-level system is measured by a quantum harmonic oscillator acting as a meter and where useful work is extracted conditionally on the measurement outcome. Using multi-objective optimisation, we find a Pareto-optimal trade-off between extractable work and its fluctuations and show that reducing fluctuations entails higher thermodynamic costs: greater information consumption, more engine cycles, longer operation time, and reduced average work output. In the limit of a highly accurate meter, we obtain the work distribution, its moments, and the Pareto front analytically. In this regime, the work statistics of the engine reduce to those of a qubit in contact with a single thermal bath. We further analyse the associated information flows by examining the mutual information and Fisher information, and show that the Pareto-optimal engine designs lie very close to local maxima of the latter with respect to the operation time of the device. Our results provide a compact description of the trade-offs between work, its fluctuations, and thermodynamic costs in quantum information engines.

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