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arXiv:2503.07740quant-ph

A friendly guide to exorcising Maxwell's demon

A. de Oliveira Junior, Jonatan Bohr Brask, Rafael Chaves

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Abstract

The birth, life, and death of Maxwell's demon provoked a profound discussion about the interplay between thermodynamics, computation, and information. Even after its exorcism, the demon continues to inspire a multidisciplinary field. This tutorial offers a comprehensive overview of Maxwell's demon and its enduring influence, bridging classical concepts with modern insights in thermodynamics, information theory, and quantum mechanics.

arXiv comments
42 pages, 14 figures. Published version
Journal reference
PRX Quantum 6, 030201 (2025)
DOI
Subjects
quant-phQuantum Physics cond-mat.stat-mechStatistical Mechanics

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  1. The mass-energy-information equivalence principle 1 comment

    • Maxwell’s demon has been a gedankenexperiment used to study these sorts of issues for over a century now. A well-written 2025 review is available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.07740

      onecommentmanView on HNParent context

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