1996/12/12 by Seth Lloyd · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.56.3374
13 pages, TeX
arxiv created 1996/12/12 · openalex publication_date 1997/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A Maxwell's demon is a device that gets information and trades it in for thermodynamic advantage, in apparent (but not actual) contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics. Quantum-mechanical versions of Maxwell's demon exhibit features that classical versions do not: in particular, a device that gets information about a quantum system disturbs it in the process. This paper proposes experimentally realizable models of quantum Maxwell's demons, explicates their thermodynamics, and shows how the information produced by quantum measurement and by decoherence acts as a source of thermodynamic inefficiency.