Unattainability of Carnot efficiency in the Brownian heat engine

Abstract
We discuss the reversibility of the Brownian heat engine. We perform an asymptotic analysis of the Kramers equation on a Büttiker-Landauer system and show quantitatively that Carnot efficiency is unattainable even in the fully overdamped limit. The unattainability is attributed to inevitable irreversible heat flow over the temperature boundary.
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