Maxwell's Daemon: Information versus Particle Statistics

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Authors

PLESCH Martin DAHLSTEN Oscar GOOLD John VEDRAL Vlatko

Year of publication 2014
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Scientific Reports
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Informatics

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep06995
Field Theoretical physics
Keywords Information - particle statistics
Description Maxwell's daemon is a popular personification of a principle connecting information gain and extractable work in thermodynamics. A Szilard Engine is a particular hypothetical realization of Maxwell's daemon, which is able to extract work from a single thermal reservoir by measuring the position of particle(s) within the system. Here we investigate the role of particle statistics in the whole process; namely, how the extractable work changes if instead of classical particles fermions or bosons are used as the working medium. We give a unifying argument for the optimal work in the different cases: the extractable work is determined solely by the information gain of the initial measurement, as measured by the mutual information, regardless of the number and type of particles which constitute the working substance.
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