The characterization and control of quantum effects in the performance of thermodynamic tasks may open new avenues for small thermal machines working in the nanoscale. We study the impact of coherence in the energy basis in the operation of a small thermal machine which can act either as a heat engine or as a refrigerator. We show that input coherence may enhance the machine performance and allow it to operate in otherwise forbidden regimes. Moreover, our results also indicate that, in some cases, coherence may also be detrimental, rendering optimization of particular models a crucial task for benefiting from coherence-induced enhancements.

中文翻译：

---

优化由能量相干驱动的自主热机

热力学任务性能中量子效应的表征和控制可能为在纳米尺度上工作的小型热机开辟新的途径。我们研究了作为热机或冰箱的小型热机运行时能量基础的相干性的影响。我们表明输入一致性可以提高机器性能并允许它在其他禁止的情况下运行。此外，我们的结果还表明，在某些情况下，连贯性也可能是有害的，使特定模型的优化成为从连贯性引起的增强中受益的关键任务。