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Related papers: Extracting work from hidden degrees of freedom

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We examine non-Markovian effects in an open quantum system from the point of view of information flow. To this end, we consider the spin-boson model with a cold reservoir, accounting for the exact time-dependent correlations between the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-07-13 Rebecca Schmidt , Sabrina Maniscalco , Tapio Ala-Nissila

A system responding to a stochastic driving signal can be interpreted as computing, by means of its dynamics, an implicit model of the environmental variables. The system's state retains information about past environmental fluctuations,…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2012-10-09 Susanne Still , David A. Sivak , Anthony J. Bell , Gavin E. Crooks

We propose and analyze a process that extracts useful work from a single active particle maintained at constant temperature in a harmonic potential by measuring the relative sign of the self-propulsion and the confining force and then…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-03-09 Grzegorz Szamel

Memory effects arise in many complex systems, from protein folding, to the spreading of epidemics and financial decisions. While so-called non-Markovian dynamics is common in larger systems with interacting components, observations in…

In a thermodynamic process with measurement and feedback, the second law of thermodynamics is no longer valid. In its place, various second-law-like inequalities have been advanced that each incorporate a distinct additional term accounting…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-06-22 Jordan M. Horowitz , Henrik Sandberg

The exploitation and characterization of memory effects arising from the interaction between system and environment is a key prerequisite for quantum reservoir engineering beyond the standard Markovian limit. In this paper we investigate a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-04-04 S. Hamedani Raja , M. Borrelli , R. Schmidt , J. P. Pekola , S. Maniscalco

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…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2021-03-09 Amirhossein Taghvaei , Olga Movilla Miangolarra , Rui Fu , Yongxin Chen , Tryphon T. Georgiou

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

Non-Markovian dynamics arise when a system is coupled to a bath with finite correlation time, giving rise to memory effects that allow the bath to temporarily store and return excitations. However, how memory modifies irreversibility and…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-04-29 Ken Funo , Tan Van Vu , Keiji Saito

A basic task of information processing is information transfer (flow). Here we study a pair of Brownian particles each coupled to a thermal bath at temperature $T_1$ and $T_2$, respectively. The information flow in such a system is defined…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-05-13 Armen E. Allahverdyan , Dominik Janzing , Guenter Mahler

We show that entanglement can be utilized to extract thermodynamic work beyond classical correlation via feedback control based on measurement on part of a composite system. The net work gain due to entanglement is determined by the change…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-01-30 Ken Funo , Yu Watanabe , Masahito Ueda

Framing computation as the transformation of metastable memories, we explore its fundamental thermodynamic limits. The true power of information follows from a novel decomposition of nonequilibrium free energy derived here, which provides a…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-08-13 Paul M. Riechers

We study the optimal performance of an information engine consisting of an overdamped Brownian bead confined in a controllable, $d$-dimensional harmonic trap and additionally subjected to gravity. The trap's center is updated dynamically…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-02-18 Antonio Patrón Castro , John Bechhoefer , David A. Sivak

Exchange of information between a quantum system and its surrounding environment plays a fundamental role in the study of the dynamics of open quantum systems. Here we discuss the role of the information exchange in the non-Markovian…

Identifying the origin of nonequilibrium characteristics in a generic interacting system having multiple degrees of freedom is a challenging task. In this context, information theoretic measures such as mutual information and related…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-07-24 Biswajit Das , Sreekanth K Manikandan , Ayan Banerjee

This paper provides a perspective on applying the concepts of information thermodynamics, developed recently in non-equilibrium statistical physics, to problems in theoretical neuroscience. Historically, information and energy in…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2024-09-27 Jan Karbowski

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

Predicting future observations plays a central role in machine learning, biology, economics, and many other fields. It lies at the heart of organizational principles such as the variational free energy principle and has even been shown --…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-04-09 Lukas J. Fiderer , Paul C. Barth , Isaac D. Smith , Hans J. Briegel

Multi-component molecular machines are ubiquitous in biology. We review recent progress on describing their thermodynamic properties using autonomous bipartite Markovian dynamics. The first and second laws can be split into local versions…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-04-10 Jannik Ehrich , David A. Sivak

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