Stochastic thermodynamics with information reservoirs

Abstract

We generalize stochastic thermodynamics to include information reservoirs. Such information reservoirs, which can be modeled as a sequence of bits, modify the second law. For example, work extraction from a system in contact with a single heat bath becomes possible if the system also interacts with an information reservoir. We obtain an inequality, and the corresponding fluctuation theorem, generalizing the standard entropy production of stochastic thermodynamics. From this inequality we can derive an information processing entropy production, which gives the second law in the presence of information reservoirs. We also develop a systematic linear response theory for information processing machines. For a unicyclic machine powered by an information reservoir, the efficiency at maximum power can deviate from the standard value of 1/2. For the case where energy is consumed to erase the tape, the efficiency at maximum erasure rate is found to be 1/2.

13 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (12)

• The Physics of Maxwell's demon and information
• Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon
• The thermodynamics of prediction
• Thermodynamics of a physical model implementing a Maxwell demon
• Nonequilibrium Detailed Fluctuation Theorem for Repeated Discrete Feedback
• Extracting work from a single heat bath through feedback
• Thermodynamics of feedback controlled systems
• Stochastic thermodynamics for "Maxwell demon" feedbacks
• Finite-time erasing of information stored in fermionic bits
• Efficiency of a Brownian information machine
• Thermodynamics of adiabatic feedback control
• Optimized finite-time information machine

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology
• Cost and Precision of Brownian Clocks
• Multipartite information flow for multiple Maxwell demons
• Critical behavior of entropy production and learning rate: Ising model with an oscillating field
• Work producing reservoirs: Stochastic thermodynamics with generalized Gibbs ensembles
• Stochastic Efficiency: Five Case Studies
• Quantum Foundations of Classical Reversible Computing
• Relations Between Work and Entropy Production for General Information-Driven, Finite-State Engines
• Fluctuation Theorem of Information Exchange within an Ensemble of Paths Conditioned on Correlated-Microstates
• How to measure heat in stochastic systems