A Maxwell Demon Model Connecting Information and Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics of a physical model implementing a Maxwell demon.

We present a physical implementation of a Maxwell demon which consists of a conventional single electron transistor (SET) capacitively coupled to another quantum dot detecting its state. Altogether, the system is described by stochastic thermodynamics. We identify the regime where the energetics of the SET is not affected by the detection, but where its coarse-grained entropy production is show...

Maxwell ’ s Demon and the Thermodynamics of Computation Jeffrey Bub

It is generally accepted, following Landauer and Bennett, that the process of measurement involves no minimum entropy cost, but the erasure of information in resetting the memory register of a computer to zero requires dissipating heat into the environment. This thesis has been challenged recently in a two-part article by Earman and Norton. I review some relevant observations in the thermodynam...

A Solid-State Maxwell Demon

A laboratory-testable, solid-state Maxwell demon is proposed that utilizes the electric field energy of an open-gap p-n junction. Numerical results from a commercial semiconductor device simulator (Silvaco International – Atlas) verify primary results from a 1-D analytic model. Present day fabrication techniques appear adequate for laboratory tests of principle.

Information-driven current in a quantum Maxwell demon.

We describe a minimal model of a quantum Maxwell demon obeying Hamiltonian dynamics. The model is solved exactly, and we analyze its steady-state behavior. We find that writing information to a quantum memory induces a probability current through the demon, which is the quantum analog of the classical Maxwell demon's action. Our model offers a simple and pedagogical paradigm for investigating t...

Maxwell ’ s demon