Molecular kinetic analysis of a finite-time Carnot cycle

We study the efficiency at the maximal power eta(max) of a finite-time Carnot cycle of a weakly interacting gas which we can regard as a nearly ideal gas. In several systems interacting with the hot and cold reservoirs of the temperatures T(h) and T(c), respectively, it is known that eta(max) = 1- root T(c)/T(h), which is often called the Curzon-Ahlborn (CA)efficiency eta(CA). For the first time numerical experiments to verify the validity of eta(CA) are performed by means of molecular dynamics simulations and reveal that our eta(max) does not always agree with eta(CA), but approaches eta(CA) in the limit of T(c) -> T(h). Our molecular kinetic analysis explains the above facts theoretically by using only elementary arithmetic. Copyright c (c) EPLA, 2008