Related papers: Work as a Memory Record
The common saying, that information is power, takes a rigorous form in stochastic thermodynamics, where a quantitative equivalence between the two helps explain the paradox of Maxwell's demon in its ability to reduce entropy. In the present…
Isoenergetic thermalization amongst $n$ bodies is a well-known irreversible process, bringing the bodies to a common temperature $T_F$ and leading to a rise in the total entropy of the bodies. We express this change in entropy using the…
We describe a simple and solvable model of a device that -- like the "neat-fingered being" in Maxwell's famous thought experiment -- transfers energy from a cold system to a hot system by rectifying thermal fluctuations. In order to…
In this paper I apply newly-proposed information-theoretic principles to thermodynamic work extraction. I show that if it is possible to extract work deterministically from a physical system prepared in any one of a set of states, then…
Quantum thermodynamics investigates how robust the second law of thermodynamics serves as the unique fundamental law in the small quantum world. To tackle this problem, the quantum coherence constitutes a major difficulty of investigations,…
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 define thermodynamic configurations and identify two primitives of discrete quantum processes between configurations for which heat and work can be defined in a natural way. This allows us to uncover a general second law for any discrete…
It is a common belief that in any environment where life is possible, life will be generated. Here it is suggested that the cause for a spontaneous generation of complex systems is probability driven processes. Based on equilibrium…
Recent theoretical research on the fundamentals of statistical mechanics has led to a remarkable discovery [2-4]: with a locally nonchaotic energy barrier, a macroscopic system may produce useful work in a cycle by absorbing heat from a…
The temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity is taken into account to study the energy change in a capacitor that follows a cycle between a cold and a hot thermal reservoirs. There is a net energy gain in the process that, in…
In a previous paper we have shown that Newton's third law cannot strictly hold in a distributed system of which the different parts are at a finite distance from each other. This is due to the finite speed of signal propagation which cannot…
In one of its versions, the Second Law states: "It is impossible to construct an engine which will work in a complete cycle, and produces no effect except the raising of a weight and cooling of a heat reservoir." While the Second Law is…
Work extraction from the Gibbs ensemble by a cyclic operation is impossible, as represented by the second law of thermodynamics. On the other hand, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) states that just a single energy eigenstate…
The discovery that memory of particle configurations and plastic events can be stored in amorphous solids subject to oscillatory shear has spurred research into methods for storing and retrieving information from these materials. However,…
Efficiently harvesting thermodynamic resources requires a precise understanding of their structure. This becomes explicit through the lens of information engines -- thermodynamic engines that use information as fuel. Maximizing the work…
Entanglement is central both to the foundations of quantum theory and, as a novel resource, to quantum information science. The theory of entanglement establishes basic laws, such as the non-increase of entanglement under local operations,…
Recent research on the thermodynamic arrow of time, at the microscopic scale, has questioned the universality of its direction. Theoretical studies showed that quantum correlations can be used to revert the natural heat flow (from the hot…
Several models of quantum open systems are known at present to violate, according to principles of the standard quantum theory of open systems, the second law of thermodynamics. Here, a new and rather trivial model of another type is…
The possibility of stating the second law of thermodynamics in terms of the increasing behaviour of a physical property establishes a connection between that branch of physics and the theory of algebraic inequalities. We use this connection…
The 2nd law of thermodynamics yields an irreversible increase in entropy until thermal equilibrium is achieved. This irreversible increase is often assumed to require large and complex systems to emerge from the reversible microscopic laws…