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In recent years, the study of heat to work conversion has been re-invigoratedby nanotechnology. Steady-state devices do this conversion without anymacroscopic moving parts, through steady-state flows of microscopic particlessuch as electrons, photons, phonons, etc. This review aims to introduce some ofthe theories used to describe these steady-state flows in a variety ofmesoscopic or nanoscale systems. These theories are introduced in the contextof idealized machines which convert heat into electrical power (heat-engines)or convert electrical power into a heat flow (refrigerators). In this sense,the machines could be categorized as thermoelectrics, although this should beunderstood to include photovoltaics when the heat source is the sun. As quantummechanics is important for most such machines, they fall into the field ofquantum thermodynamics. In many cases, the machines we consider have fewdegrees of freedom, however the reservoirs of heat and work that they interactwith are assumed to be macroscopic. This review discusses different theorieswhich can take into account different aspects of mesoscopic and nanoscalephysics, such as coherent quantum transport, magnetic-field induced effects(including topological ones such as the quantum Hall effect), and singleelectron charging effects. It discusses the efficiency of thermoelectricconversion, and the thermoelectric figure of merit. More specifically, thetheories presented are (i) linear response theory with or without magneticfields, (ii) Landauer scattering theory in the linear response regime and farfrom equilibrium, (iii) Green-Kubo formula for strongly interacting systemswithin the linear response regime, (iv) rate equation analysis for smallquantum machines with or without  (SEE THE PDF FOR THE REST OF THISABSTRACT)

Fundamental aspects of steady-state conversion of heat to work at the nanoscale