TY - JOUR
T1 - The harmonic quantum Szilárd engine
AU - Davies, P. C.W.
AU - Thomas, Logan
AU - Zahariade, George
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank S. M. Carroll and M. E. Tegmark for helpful comments. During this work L.T. and G.Z. were supported by the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi). L.T. is also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, under Grant No. DE-SC0019470. G.Z. also acknowledges financial support from Moogsoft and the Archelon Time Science Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - The Szilárd engine is a mechanism (akin to Maxwell's demon) for converting information into energy, which seemingly violates the second law of thermodynamics. Originally a classical thought experiment, it was extended to a quantized treatment by Zurek. Here, we examine a new, elegant model of a quantum Szilárd engine by replacing the traditional rigid box with a harmonic potential, extending the scope of the model. Remarkably, almost all calculations are exact. This article is suitable for students, researchers, and educators interested in the conceptual links among information, entropy, and quantum measurement.
AB - The Szilárd engine is a mechanism (akin to Maxwell's demon) for converting information into energy, which seemingly violates the second law of thermodynamics. Originally a classical thought experiment, it was extended to a quantized treatment by Zurek. Here, we examine a new, elegant model of a quantum Szilárd engine by replacing the traditional rigid box with a harmonic potential, extending the scope of the model. Remarkably, almost all calculations are exact. This article is suitable for students, researchers, and educators interested in the conceptual links among information, entropy, and quantum measurement.
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U2 - 10.1119/10.0005946
DO - 10.1119/10.0005946
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120053802
VL - 89
SP - 1123
EP - 1131
JO - American Journal of Physics
JF - American Journal of Physics
SN - 0002-9505
IS - 12
ER -