Revisiting the quantum Szilard engine with fully quantum considerations

Abstract

By considering level shifting during the insertion process we revisit the quantum Szilard engine (QSZE) with fully quantum consideration. We derive the general expressions of the heat absorbed from thermal bath and the total work done to the environment by the system in a cycle with two different cyclic strategies. We find that only the quantum information contributes to the absorbed heat, and the classical information acts like a feedback controller and has no direct effect on the absorbed heat. This is the first demonstration of the different effects of quantum information and classical information for extracting heat from the bath in the QSZE. Moreover, when the well width $L\to \infty$ or the temperature of the bath $T\to \infty$ the QSZE reduces to the classical Szilard engine (CSZE), and the total work satisfies the relation $W_{\mathtt{tot}}=k_{B}T\mathtt{ln}2$ as obtained by Sang Wook Kim et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 070401 (2011)] for one particle case.

17 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Annals of Physics(NY)

References in corpus (6)

• The Physics of Maxwell's demon and information
• The second law, Maxwell's daemon and work derivable from quantum heat engines
• Quantum Szilard Engine
• Experimental Realization of an Optical One-Way Barrier for Neutral Atoms
• Single-Photon Atomic Cooling
• Compression of Atomic Phase Space Using an Asymmetric One-Way Barrier

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• Bound on efficiency of heat engine from uncertainty relation viewpoint
• Measurement-based quantum Otto engine with a two-spin system coupled by anisotropic interaction: enhanced efficiency at finite times
• Fractional Quantum Heat Engine
• Quantum Isothermal Reversible Process of Particles in a Box with a Delta Potential