Related papers: Landauer's Principle in a Quantum Szilard Engine W…
In a recent paper [Vaikuntanathan and Jarzynski, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 83}, 061120 (2011), arXiv:1105.1744] a model was introduced whereby work could be extracted from a thermal bath by measuring the energy of a particle that was thermalized by…
The relation between entropy and information dates back to the classical Maxwell demon (MD) paradox, a thought experiment proposed in 1867 by J. C. Maxwell to violate the second law of thermodynamics. A variant of the classical MD is the…
The erasure of a bit of information encoded in a physical system is an irreversible operation bound to dissipate an amount of energy $Q = k_\text{B} T\ln 2$. As a result, work $W \geq Q$ has to be applied to the physical system to restore…
Although there is not a complete "proof" of the second law of thermo- dynamics based on microscopic dynamics, two properties of Hamiltonian systems have been used to prove the impossibility of work extraction from a single thermal…
In a recently published letter [S. W. Kim, T. Sagawa, S. DeLiberato, and M. Ueda, PRL 106, 070401 (2011)] the influence of particle statistics on extractable work in the Szilard engine was discussed. We point out that the expressions given…
A system in equilibrium does not evolve -- time independence is its telltale characteristic. However, in Newtonian physics the microstate of an individual system (a point in its phase space) evolves incessantly in accord with its equations…
We discuss, using recent results on the Landauer's bound in multivalued logic, the difficulties and pitfalls of how to apply this principle. The presentation is based on Szilard's version of Maxwell's demon experiment and use of equilibrium…
Thermodynamics connects our knowledge of the world to our capability to manipulate and thus to control it. This crucial role of control is exemplified by the third law of thermodynamics, Nernst's unattainability principle, which states that…
Thermodynamics and information have intricate inter-relations. The justification of the fact that information is physical, is done by inter-linking information and thermodynamics - through Landauer's principle. This modern approach towards…
Landauer's erasure principle is a cornerstone of thermodynamics and information theory. According to this principle, erasing information incurs a minimum energy cost. Recently, Vaccaro and Barnett [Proc. R. Soc {\bf 467}, 1770 (2011)]…
We propose and analyze a quantum version of Szilard's ``one-molecule engine.'' In particular, we recover, in the quantum context, Szilard's conclusion concerning the free energy ``cost'' of measurements: $\Delta F \geq k_B T\ln2$ per bit of…
We study experimentally work fluctuations in a Szilard engine that extracts work from information encoded as the occupancy of an electron level in a semiconductor quantum dot. We show that as the average work extracted per bit of…
A known aspect of the Clausius inequality is that an equilibrium system subjected to a squeezing $\d S$ of its entropy must release at least an amount $|\dbarrm Q|=T|\d S|$ of heat. This serves as a basis for the Landauer principle, which…
We have found the optimal condition of the work performed by the quantum Szilard engine (SZE) containing multi-particles. Usually the optimal work of a cyclic engine is achieved when the whole thermodynamic process is reversible. Although…
The first law of thermodynamics, which governs energy conservation, is traditionally formulated as an equality. Surprisingly, we demonstrate that the first law alone implies a universal Landauer-like inequality linking changes in system…
We propose and analyze Maxwell's demon based on a single qubit with avoided level crossing. Its operation cycle consists of adiabatic drive to the point of minimum energy separation, measurement of the qubit state, and conditional feedback.…
We introduce a class of quantum heat engines which consists of two-energy-eigenstate systems, the simplest of quantum mechanical systems, undergoing quantum adiabatic processes and energy exchanges with heat baths, respectively, at…
The quantum measurement problem is revisited and discussed in terms of a new solvable measurement model which basic ingredient is the quantum model of a controlled single-bit memory. The structure of this model involving strongly coupled…
Nucleic acids theoretically possess a Szilard engine function that can convert the energy associated with the Shannon entropy of molecules for which they have coded recognition, into the useful work of geometric reconfiguration of the…
The standard relations between information theory and thermodynamics are challenged. The Szilard engine is revisited and the bound proposed by Landauer is replaced by a different one which includes errors in information processing. Instead…