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Related papers: Information is not a thermodynamic resource

200 papers

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 J. Bub

The Szilard engine stands as a compelling illustration of the intricate interplay between information and thermodynamics. While at thermodynamic equilibrium, the apparent breach of the second law of thermodynamics was reconciled by Landauer…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-01-17 Luca Cocconi , Letian Chen

A fundamental connection between thermodynamics and information theory arises from the fact that correlations exhibit an inherent work value. For noninteracting systems this translates to a work cost for establishing correlations. Here we…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-04-27 Nicolai Friis , Marcus Huber , Martí Perarnau-Llobet

A Szilard Engine is a hypothetical device which is able to extract work from a single thermal reservoir by measuring the position of particles within the engine. We derive the amount of work that can be extracted from such a device in the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-05-23 Martin Plesch , Oscar Dahlsten , John Goold , Vlatko Vedral

We compute the entropy reduction in feedback controlled systems due to the repeated operation of the controller. This was the lacking ingredient to establish the thermodynamics of these systems, and in particular of Maxwell's demons. We…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-04-12 F. J. Cao , M. Feito

Complex systems produce high-dimensional signals that lack macroscopic variables analogous to entropy, temperature, or free energy. This work introduces a thermoinformational formulation that derives entropy, internal energy, temperature,…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2026-01-30 George-Rafael Domenikos , Victoria Leong

An essential role of information in microscopic thermodynamics (e.g. Maxwell's demon) opens a challenging question if there exists a formulation of the second law of thermodynamics based only on pure information ideas. Here, such a…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-04-29 Miroslav Holeček

We show that any external intervention (insertion or removal of a partition) that destroys the equilibrium or brings it in a system always requires work and heat to ensure that the first law is obeyed, a fact that has been completely…

Classical Physics · Physics 2022-05-09 P. D. Gujrati

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…

General Physics · Physics 2012-06-26 Laszlo B. Kish , Claes G. Granqvist

So far, feedback-driven systems have been discussed using (i) measurement and control, (ii) a tape interacting with a system or (iii) by identifying an implicit Maxwell demon in steady state transport. We derive the corresponding second…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2014-03-05 A. C. Barato , U. Seifert

A central result that arose in applying information theory to the stochastic thermodynamics of nonlinear dynamical systems is the Information-Processing Second Law (IPSL): the physical entropy of the universe can decrease if compensated by…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2017-06-07 Alexander B. Boyd , Dibyendu Mandal , Paul M. Riechers , James P. Crutchfield

Physical systems are often simulated using a stochastic computation where different final states result from identical initial states. Here, we derive the minimum energy cost of simulating a complex data set of a general physical system…

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability · Physics 2015-05-30 Karoline Wiesner , Mile Gu , Elisabeth Rieper , Vlatko Vedral

In Szilard's engine, a demon measures a one-particle gas and applies feedback to extract work from thermal fluctuations, embodying Maxwell's notion that information reduces thermodynamic entropy - an apparent second-law violation. The…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-08-26 Xiangjun Xing

In his famous letter in 1870, Maxwell describes how Joule's law can be violated "only by the intelligent action of a mere guiding agent", later coined as Maxwell's demon by Lord Kelvin. In this letter we study thermodynamics of information…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-12-29 Aki Kutvonen , Jonne Koski , Tapio Ala-Nissilä

We expand the standard thermodynamic framework of a system coupled to a thermal reservoir by considering a stream of independently prepared units repeatedly put into contact with the system. These units can be in any nonequilibrium state…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-04-12 Philipp Strasberg , Gernot Schaller , Tobias Brandes , Massimiliano Esposito

Thermodynamics and information have intricate interrelations. Often thermodynamics is considered to be the logical premise to justify that information is physical - through Landauer's principle -, thereby also linking information and…

We look at certain thought experiments based upon the 'delayed choice' and 'quantum eraser' interference experiments, which present a complementarity between information gathered from a quantum measurement and interference effects. It has…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 O. J. E. Maroney

The relationship between entropy and information is reviewed, taking into account that information is stored in macroscopic degrees of freedom, such as the order parameter in a system exhibiting spontaneous symmetry breaking. It is shown…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-10-31 Juan M. R. Parrondo

Information plays a pivotal role in the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes with feedback. However, much remains to be learned about the nature of information fluctuations in small scale devices and their relation with fluctuations…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2016-12-21 Martin Luc Rosinberg , Jordan M. Horowitz

Informational contributions to thermodynamics can be studied in isolation by considering systems with fully-degenerate Hamiltonians. In this regime, being in non-equilibrium -- termed informational non-equilibrium -- provides thermodynamic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-05-15 Chung-Yun Hsieh , Benjamin Stratton , Hao-Cheng Weng , Valerio Scarani