Maxwell's demon can use quantum information to generate work
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - 11:45
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —In theory, Maxwell's demon can decrease the entropy of a system by opening and closing a door at appropriate times to separate hot and cold gas molecules. But as physicist Leó Szilárd pointed out in 1929, entropy does not decrease in such a situation because the demon's measurement process requires information, which is a form of entropy. Szilárd's so-called information heat engine, now called the Szilárd engine (SZE), demonstrates how work can be generated by using information.