Colloquium: The physics of Maxwell’s demon and information
نویسندگان
چکیده
Maxwell’s demon was born in 1867 and still thrives in modern physics. He plays important roles in clarifying the connections between two theories: thermodynamics and information. Here the history of the demon and a variety of interesting consequences of the second law of thermodynamics are presented, mainly in quantum mechanics, but also in the theory of gravity. Also highlighted are some of the recent work that explores the role of information, illuminated by Maxwell’s demon, in the arena of quantum-information theory.
منابع مشابه
Energy requirement of control: Comments on Szilard’s engine and Maxwell’s demon
In mathematical physical analyses of Szilard’s engine and Maxwell’s demon, a general assumption (explicit or implicit) is that one can neglect the energy needed for relocating the piston in Szilard’s engine and for driving the trap door in Maxwell’s demon. If this basic assumption is wrong, then the conclusions of a vast literature on the implications of the second law of thermodynamics and of ...
متن کاملDemons in Physics
Maxwell’s ”finite being” was born in 1867, as one ”who knows the paths and velocities of all the molecules” ([7], p.213), and who, unlike us, is ”clever enough” ([7], p.213), and can violate the second law of thermodynamics. It was baptized as a demon by Lord Kelvin ([7], p. 214), and ever since has fueled the discussions in the foundations of statistical mechanics. Since its inception, and con...
متن کاملMaxwell's Demon - A Historical Review
For more than 140 years Maxwell’s demon has intrigued, enlightened, mystified, frustrated, and challenged physicists in unique and interesting ways. Maxwell’s original conception was brilliant and insightful, but over the years numerous different versions of Maxwell’s demon have been presented. Most versions have been answered with reasonable physical arguments, with each of these answers (appa...
متن کاملAll Shook Up: Fluctuations, Maxwell's Demon and the Thermodynamics of Computation
The most successful exorcism of Maxwell’s demon is Smoluchowski’s 1912 observation that thermal fluctuations would likely disrupt the operation of any molecular-scale demonic machine. A later tradition sought to exorcise Maxwell’s demon by assessing the entropic cost of the demon’s processing of information. This later tradition fails since these same thermal fluctuations invalidate the molecul...
متن کاملQuantum Discord and Maxwell’s Demons
Quantum discord was proposed as an information theoretic measure of the “quantumness” of correlations. I show that discord determines the difference between the efficiency of quantum and classical Maxwell’s demons in extracting work from collections of correlated quantum systems. Information has an energetic value: It can be converted into work. Maxwell’s demon was introduced into thermodynamic...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2009