GIULIANO BENETTI Università dell'Insubria: The understanding of energy conversion in complex systems is a fundamental problem, also of practical interest in connection with the challenging task of developing high-performance thermoelectric heat engines and refrigerators. A rather abstract perspec-tive of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and dynamical systems theory is taken to view at this very practical problem. Recently discovered generai mechanisms of optimizing the figure of merit of thermoelectric efficiency are discussed, also in connection to momentum-conserving interacting systems, to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry by an applied magnetic field, and to multiterminal steady-state quantum thermal machines.

DATA: 13-05-2015