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Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon.

ABSTRACT: We describe a minimal model of an autonomous Maxwell demon, a device that delivers work by rectifying thermal fluctuations while simultaneously writing information to a memory register. We solve exactly for the steady-state behavior of our model, and we construct its phase diagram. We find that our device can also act as a "Landauer eraser", using externally supplied work to remove information from the memory register. By exposing an explicit, transparent mechanism of operation, our model offers a simple paradigm for investigating the thermodynamics of information processing by small systems.

SUBMITTER: Mandal D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3406850 | biostudies-other | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon.

Mandal Dibyendu D   Jarzynski Christopher C  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20120702 29

We describe a minimal model of an autonomous Maxwell demon, a device that delivers work by rectifying thermal fluctuations while simultaneously writing information to a memory register. We solve exactly for the steady-state behavior of our model, and we construct its phase diagram. We find that our device can also act as a "Landauer eraser", using externally supplied work to remove information from the memory register. By exposing an explicit, transparent mechanism of operation, our model offers  ...[more]