Probing Maxwell's Demon with a Nanoscale Thermometer

Abstract

A precise definition for a quantum electron thermometer is given, as an electron reservoir coupled locally (e.g., by tunneling) to a sample, and brought into electrical and thermal equilibrium with it. A realistic model of a scanning thermal microscope with atomic resolution is then developed, where the resolution is limited in ultrahigh vacuum by thermal coupling to the electromagnetic environment. We show that the temperatures of individual atomic orbitals or bonds in a conjugated molecule with a temperature gradient across it exhibit quantum oscillations, whose origin can be traced to a realization of Maxwell's demon at the single-molecule level. These oscillations may be understood in terms of the rules of covalence describing bonding in π-electron systems. Fourier's law of heat conduction is recovered as the resolution of the temperature probe is reduced, indicating that the macroscopic law emerges as a consequence of coarse graining.

10 pages, 12 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The Physics of Maxwell's demon and information
• Heat conduction in molecular transport junctions
• Giant Thermoelectric Effect from Transmission Supernodes
• Many-body theory of electronic transport in single-molecule heterojunctions
• Reconstructing Fourier's law from disorder in quantum wires
• Local Temperatures and Heat Flow in Quantum Driven Systems

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