A Modified Szilard Engine: Measurement, Information, and Maxwell's Demon

Using an isolated measurement process, we calculate the effect measurement has on entropy for the multi-cylinder Szilard engine. We find that the system of cylinders possesses an entropy associated with cylinder total energy states, and that it records information transferred at measurement. Contrary to other's results, we find that the apparatus loses entropy due to measurement. The Second Law of Thermodynamics may be preserved if Maxwell's demon gains entropy moving the engine partition.     

Thermodynamic model for feedback control of systems with uncertain macroscopic states

Thermodynamics of feedback control processes, including the minimum work consumption of measurement, work extraction, and erasure processes of thermodynamic small systems have been investigated by researchers. We take systems with uncertain macroscopic states as the study object and study the feedback control processes of nonequilibrium macroscopic systems considering both the information entropy of microscopic states and macroscopic states. First we consider a system set that consists of systems with several macroscopic states and discuss the relations among the average information entropy of the system set, the thermodynamic entropy of the systems and the information entropy of macroscopic states of the systems. Then, we derive the expression of the average maximum net work obtained through feedback control, which relates to the free energy of the systems and the minimum work consumption of the measurement and erasure processes.     

Hidden Dissipation and Irreversibility in Maxwell’s Demon

Maxwell’s demon is an entity in a 150-year-old thought experiment that paradoxically appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics by reducing entropy without doing work. It has increasingly practical implications as advances in nanomachinery produce devices that push the thermodynamic limits imposed by the second law. A well-known explanation claiming that information erasure restores second law compliance fails to resolve the paradox because it assumes the second law a priori, and does not predict irreversibility. Instead, a purely mechanical resolution that does not require information theory is presented. The transport fluxes of mass, momentum, and energy involved in the demon’s operation are analyzed and show that they imply “hidden” external work and dissipation. Computing the dissipation leads to a new lower bound on entropy production by the demon. It is strictly positive in all nontrivial cases, providing a more stringent limit than the second law and implying intrinsic thermodynamic irreversibility. The thermodynamic irreversibility is linked with mechanical irreversibility resulting from the spatial asymmetry of the demon’s speed selection criteria, indicating one mechanism by which macroscopic irreversibility may emerge from microscopic dynamics.     

Decrease in entropy as a result of measuring the time of escape from a potential well

The decrease in entropy when passing from an equilibrium thermodynamic system to a slightly nonequilibrium system is investigated. A quasi-equilibrium Boltzmann distribution is used to prove the conservation of free energy during this passage. Results are obtained for a Brownian particle in a potential well with a low escape probability. The escape is interpreted as a measurement. It is shown that because of the measurement itself, the distribution function is narrower than that for a system undisturbed by measurement, i.e., an equilibrium system. In this case, the entropy difference between the equilibrium and measurement-disturbed systems is equal to the amount of information entered into the system.     

Influence of Cr and Fe on magnetic phase transition and magnetocaloric effect in Co2(Cr1-xFex)Al, (x ≤ 0 ≤ 1) soft magnetic Heusler alloys

The structural measurement indicates that the system possesses A2 to B2 phase transformation at the extent of A2 phase at room temperature. The present system shows first order magneto-structural transformation (FOMST). The substitution of Cr by Fe causes a vital role for an increase in magnetocaloric properties. The change in magnetic entropy (ΔS_M) and relative cooling power (RCP) are evaluated under an applied field of 20 KOe that shows drastic changes near the blocking temperature under the specific temperature regime. In the vicinity of these observed properties, critical exponent parameters such as, β, ? and δ were also observed using field dependence magnetic entropy change.     

Entropy Dynamics in the System of Interacting Qubits

The classical second law of thermodynamics demands that an isolated system evolves with a nondiminishing entropy. This holds as well in quantum mechanics if the evolution of the energy-isolated system can be described by a unital quantum channel. At the same time, the entropy of a system evolving via a nonunital channel can, in principle, decrease. Here, we analyze the behavior of entropy in the context of the H-theorem. As exemplary phenomena, we discuss the action of a Maxwell demon (MD) operating a qubit and the processes of heating and cooling in a two-qubit system. Further we discuss how small initial correlations between a quantum system and a reservoir affect the entropy increase during the quantum-system evolution.     

自调整平滑区间粒子滤波平滑算法

针对非线性系统的状态估计问题, 提出了一种自调整平滑区间粒子滤波平滑算法. 该算法的显著特点是根据采样粒子观测值与系统状态观测值之间的偏差动态修正滤波平滑区间的长度, 有效抑制了传统的粒子滤波平滑算法中因区间长度固定可能造成粒子权重重新赋值带来误差增大的问题. 该算法的原理是依据粒子滤波器的工作机理, 把系统状态信息和热槽组成一个抽象的整体, 将粒子滤波平滑过程类比为观测信息和热槽交互的统计力学系统. 在无新的观测信息时, 整个系统遵循热力学第二定律, 即无论从任何初始状态出发, 整个力学系统的熵是非减的; 而当出现新的观测信息时, 粒子滤波器像麦克斯韦妖从新的观测信息中抽取能量传送给热槽, 使整个抽象系统的熵减少, 根据系统熵的递变规律变化对滤波平滑区间的长度加以动态修正, 优化粒子的权重赋值, 进而提高系统状态的估计精度. 利用matlab进行了仿真分析, 验证了该算法的有效性.     

Information Erasure and the Generalized Second Law of Black Hole Thermodynamics

We consider the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics in the light of quantum information theory, in particular information erasure and Landauer’s principle (namely, that erasure of information produces at least the equivalent amount of entropy). A small quantum system outside a black hole in the Hartle-Hawking state is studied, and the quantum system comes into thermal equilibrium with the radiation surrounding the black hole. For this scenario, we present a simple proof of the generalized second law based on quantum relative entropy. We then analyze the corresponding information erasure process, and confirm our proof of the generalized second law by applying Landauer’s principle.     

The Szilard engine revisited: Entropy,macroscopic randomness,and symmetry breaking phase transitions

The role of symmetry breaking phase transitions in the Szilard engine is analyzed. It is shown that symmetry breaking is the only necessary ingredient for the engine to work. To support this idea, we show that the Ising model behaves exactly as the Szilard engine. We design a purely macroscopic Maxwell demon from an Ising model, demonstrating that a demon can operate with information about the macrostate of the system. We finally discuss some aspects of the definition of entropy and how thermodynamics should be modified to account for the variations of entropy in second-order phase transitions. (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.     

Maxwell’s demon and the management of ignorance in stochastic thermodynamics

It is nearly 150 years since Maxwell challenged the validity of the second law of thermodynamics by imagining a tiny creature who could sort the molecules of a gas in such a way that would decrease entropy without exerting any work. The demon has been discussed largely using thought experiments, but it has recently become possible to exert control over nanoscale systems, just as Maxwell imagined, and the status of the second law has become a more practical matter, raising the issue of how measurements manage our ignorance in a way that can be exploited. The framework of stochastic thermodynamics extends macroscopic concepts such as heat, work, entropy and irreversibility to small systems and allows us explore the matter. Some arguments against a successful demon imply a second law that can be suspended indefinitely until we dissipate energy in order to remove the records of his operations. In contrast, under stochastic thermodynamics, the demon fails because on average, more work is performed upfront in making a measurement than can be extracted by exploiting the outcome. This requires us to exclude systems and a demon that evolve under what might be termed self-sorting dynamics, and we reflect on the constraints on control that this implies while still working within a thermodynamic framework.     

Information and Entropy in Quantum Measurement Processes

Quantum measurement processes of discrete andcontinuous observables are considered from theinformation-theoretic point of view. The informationextracted from the results of quantum measurementperformed on a physical system and the change of theShannon entropy of the measured physical system areinvestigated in detail. It is shown that the amount ofinformation about the intrinsic observable of themeasured physical system can be expressed by the mutualinformation between the physical system and themeasurement apparatus if the intrinsic observablecommutes with the operational observable defined by thequantum measurement process. Furthermore, the conditioncan be obtained under which the amount of informationextracted from the measurement outcomes becomes equal tothe decrease of the entropy of the measured physical system. In addition, the change of theShannon entropy is compared with that of the von Neumannentropy. The general results do not depend on whetherthe readout of the measurement outcome obeys the projection postulate or not. Severalexamples of quantum measurement processes are consideredto examine the general results.     

Realization of Quantum Maxwell's Demon with Solid-State Spins

We report experimental realization of a quantum version of Maxwell's demon using solid state spins where the information acquiring and feedback operations by the demon are achieved through conditional quantum gates.A unique feature of this implementation is that the demon can start in a quantum superposition state or in an entangled state with an ancilla observer. Through quantum state tomography, we measure the entropy in the system, demon, and the ancilla, showing the influence of coherence and entanglement on the result. A quantum implementation of Maxwell's demon adds more controllability to this paradoxical thermal machine and may find applications in quantum thermodynamics involving microscopic systems.     

基于近似熵测度的自适应随机共振研究

变步长随机共振算法有效解决了绝热近似大参数条件下的弱信号检测问题.基于信号近似熵测度的自适应随机共振，实现了变步长随机共振最优输出的自适应求解.周期信号的近似熵不受其幅值和相位变化的影响，而只与其频率及信噪比有关.因此，按照原始数据的采样条件，构造待检测频率在预定信噪比下的标准信号，并以其近似熵为基准，通过自动调节非线性系统的结构参数和计算步长，求得系统输出的近似熵距离矩阵.该矩阵中的最小值所对应的即为自适应条件下非线性动力系统的最优参数.     

Keeping the entropy of measurement: Szilard revisited

What happens to von Neumann's entropy of measurement after we get the outcome? It becomes entropy of erasure. This is cribbed from Szilard (1929). Also, two errors in that celebrated paper are corrected.     

Thermodynamics of computing: Entropy of nonergodic systems

Landauer discussed the minimum energy necessary for computation and stated that erasure of information is accompanied with kT ln 2/ bit of heat generation. We reconsider this problem on the basis of Clausius's equation defining the thermodynamic entropy. We show that the erasing process, involving a transition from a nonergodic to an ergodic state, is irreversible and accompanied with k ln 2/bit of entropy generation, while the heat generation occurs in a writing process. The inverse of the erasing process corresponds to spontaneous symmetry breaking from an ergodic to a nonergodic state, which induces a decrease(!) in thermodynamic entropy. Our theory is examined by a simulation of a binary device described by a Langevin equation. We argue that the so-called residual entropy of symmetry broken states, such as in ice, is not a thermodynamic quantity, even if it might be called "information entropy." (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.     

Relating Maxwell's demon and quantitative analysis of information leakage for practical imperative programs

Shannon observed the relation between information entropy and Maxwell demon experiment to come up with information entropy formula. After that, Shannon's entropy formula is widely used to measure information leakage in imperative programs. But in the present work, our aim is to go in a reverse direction and try to find possible Maxwell's demon experimental setup for contemporary practical imperative programs in which variations of Shannon's entropy formula has been applied to measure the information leakage. To establish the relation between the second principle of thermodynamics and quantitative analysis of information leakage, present work models contemporary variations of imperative programs in terms of Maxwell's demon experimental setup. In the present work five contemporary variations of imperative program related to information quantification are identified. They are:(i) information leakage in imperative program,(ii) imperative multithreaded program,(iii) point to point leakage in the imperative program,(iv) imperative program with infinite observation,and(v) imperative program in the SOA-based environment. For these variations, minimal work required by an attacker to gain the secret is also calculated using historical Maxwell's demon experiment. To model the experimental setup of Maxwell's demon, non-interference security policy is used. In the present work, imperative programs with one-bit secret information have been considered to avoid the complexity. The findings of the present work from the history of physics can be utilized in many areas related to information flow of physical computing, nano-computing, quantum computing,biological computing, energy dissipation in computing, and computing power analysis.     

Information and Entropy Flow in the Kalman–Bucy Filter

We investigate the information theoretic properties of Kalman–Bucy filters in continuous time, developing notions of information supply, storage and dissipation. Introducing a concept of energy, we develop a physical analogy in which the unobserved signal describes a statistical mechanical system interacting with a heat bath. The abstract universe comprising the signal and the heat bath obeys a non-increase law of entropy; however, with the introduction of partial observations, this law can be violated. The Kalman–Bucy filter behaves like a Maxwellian demon in this analogy, returning signal energy to the heat bath without causing entropy increase. This is made possible by the steady supply of new information. In a second analogy the signal and filter interact, setting up a stationary non-equilibrium state, in which energy flows between the heat bath, the signal and the filter without causing any overall entropy increase. We introduce a rate of interactive entropy flow that isolates the statistical mechanics of this flow from marginal effects. Both analogies provide quantitative examples of Landauers Principle.     

A Scheme for Information Erasure in a Double-Well Potential

We design an experimental scheme to realize one-bit information erasure and restoring processes by considering an overdamped colloidal particle in a double-well optical trap, which is added by a controllable laser tweezer. Using the Monte Carlo method, we simulate numerically the Langevin equation to calculate the mean work spent during the entire process and validate the entropy production fluctuation theory. Our result shows that the distribution of entropy production becomes narrow with increasing temperature and becomes stationary, represents the diminishing extent of irreversibility.     

Entropy,information and quantum measurements

The conditional entropy between two states of a quantum system is shown to be nonincreasing when a complete measurement is performed on the system. The information between two quantum systems is defined and is shown to be bounded above by the logarithmic correlation. This inequality is then applied to the measurement process. The entropy changes in the observed system and the measuring apparatus are compared with the information gain in the measurement.