RT Journal Article
T1 Maxwell demons in phase space
A1 Rodríguez Parrondo, Juan Manuel
A1 Granger, Léo
AB Although there is not a complete "proof" of the second law of thermodynamics based on microscopic dynamics, two properties of Hamiltonian systems have been used to prove the impossibility of work extraction from a single thermal reservoir: Liouville's theorem and the adiabatic invariance of the volume enclosed by an energy shell. In this paper we analyze these two properties in the Szilard engine and other systems related with the Maxwell demon. In particular, we recall that the enclosed volume is no longer an adiabatic invariant in non ergodic systems and explore the consequences of this on the second law. This article is supplemented with comments by H. Ouerdane and Lawrence S. Schulman and a final reply by the authors.
PB Springer Heidelberg
SN 1951-6355
YR 2015
FD 2015-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/24128
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/24128
LA eng
NO © 2015 Springer Heidelberg.This work has been financially supported by Grant ENFASIS (FIS2011-22644, Spanish Government).
NO Gobierno de España
DS Docta Complutense
RD 11 abr 2025