2020/08/11 by Dimitri Jeltsema, Arjan van der Schaft · 8 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · Materials Science · #Advanced Memory and Neural Computing #Computer science #Energy (signal processing) #Excitation #Ideal (ethics) #Law #Neural Networks and Applications #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Second law of thermodynamics #Statistical physics #Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication #Theoretical physics #Thermodynamics #cs.SY #eess.SY
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-73833-3
published in Scientific Reports 10(1), 16688 (Nature Portfolio) · 4 figures
arxiv created 2020/08/11 · openalex publication_date 2020/10/07 · arxiv updated 2020/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It is rigorously proved that ideal memcapacitors and meminductors are not passive or cyclo-passive devices. Equivalently, this implies that there exist excitation profiles that allow to extract more energy from the device than it is supplied with; so that their energy conversion efficiency exceeds 100%. This means that ideal memcapacitors and meminductors violate the First Law of thermodynamics, and thus are non-physical as they constitute so-called overunity systems. An illustrative mechanical analogue is provided for which such an excitation profile is explicitly constructed. Hence ideal memcapacitors and meminductors are mathematical artefacts, and the question arises what this implies for the properties of non-ideal memcapacitors and meminductors (or, memcapacitive systems and meminductive systems), which do satisfy the First Law.