Giulio Casati — Università dell'Insubria #
Conservation laws, symmetry breaking and control of the heat current #
The understanding of the underlying dynamical mechanisms which determines the macroscopic laws of heat 
conduction is a long standing task of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. A better understanding of 
such mechanism may also lead to potentially interesting applications based on the possibility to control 
the heat flow. Indeed, a model of thermal rectifier has been recently proposed in which heat can flow 
preferentially in one direction. In particular we discuss here the possibility to increase the rectifying 
factor by orders of magnitude.
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We then discuss a new approach, which is rooted in nonlinear dynamical systems, for increasing the 
efficiency of thermoelectric machines. The main focus will be on the physical mechanisms, unveiled by 
these dynamical models, which lead to high thermoelectric efficiency, approaching the Carnot limit. The 
role of conservation laws and symmetry breaking will be emphasized.