Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 24: Thermoelectricity

HL 24.10: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 12:00–12:15, EW 202

Bound on Thermoelectric Power in a Magnetic Field — •Kay Brandner and Udo Seifert — II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany

Strong numerical evidence for the existence of a so far undiscovered constraint on the Onsager coefficients describing thermoelectric transport in the presence of a magnetic field is presented on the basis of the paradigmatic n-terminal model with n-2 terminals acting as probes mimicking correlations and inelastic scattering. The new constraint implies, inter alia, that power vanishes at least linearly when the maximum efficiency is approached. This result goes beyond the bounds discussed in our previous work [1,2], since, first, it holds for an arbitrarily large number of terminals and, second, power is bounded rather than efficiency. In particular the option of reaching Carnot efficiency at finite power, which, in principle, would be allowed by the bare second law, is finally ruled out for the multi-terminal set-up.
[1] K. Brandner, K. Saito and U. Seifert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 070603 (2013)
[2] K. Brandner and U. Seifert, New J. Phys. 15 105003 (2013)