Maxwell's demon. (I) A thermodynamic exorcism

Gyftopoulos, Elias P.

doi:10.1016/s0378-4371(01)00630-6

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…So, there are no fast and slowparticles to be sorted out [27]. Ihope the preceding discussions will be helpful in changing this belief.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building on the Legacy of Professor Keenan. Entropy An Intrinsic Property of Matter

Gyftopoulos¹,

Beretta²,

Ghoniem³

et al. 2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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In the scientific and engineering literature, entropy-t he distinguishing feature of thermodynamics from other branches of physics -i sv iewed with skepticism, and thought to be not a physical property of matter -l ikem ass or energy -b ut am easure either of disorder in as ystem, or of lack of information about the physics of asystem in athermodynamic equilibrium state, and ap lethora of expressions are proposed for its analytical representation. In this article, Ip resent briefly twor evolutionary nonstatistical expositions of thermodynamics (revolutionary in the sense of Thomas Kuhn, The StructureofScientific Revolutions,U.Chicago Press, 1970) that apply to all systems (both macroscopic and microscopic, including one spin or as ingle particle), to all states (thermodynamic equilibrium, and not thermodynamic equilibrium), and that disclose entropyasan intrinsic property of matter.The first theory is presented without reference to quantum mechanics even though quantum theoretic ideas are lurking behind the exposition. The second theory is aunified quantum theory of mechanics and thermodynamics without statistical probabilities, that is, Iamnot presenting another version of statistical quantum mechanics. ENCOMIUMIamdeeply movedbymyparticipation in this gathering honoring the memory of Professor Keenan. His clarity of thinking and his demand for rational conceptions about and logical conclusions of scientific and engineering efforts had al asting influence on my academic career.The clarity and rigor of his scientific and engineering thinking inspired George N. Hatsopoulos and me to develop anonstatistical theory of quantum thermodynamics, and Gian Paolo Beretta and me to develop anoveltheory of thermodynamics. Iw ould liket oe xpress my gratitude to Professor Keenan by translating ab rief greek prayer: "light be the earth that covers him forever".

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“…So, there are no fast and slowparticles to be sorted out [27]. Ihope the preceding discussions will be helpful in changing this belief.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively,atnocost he is asked to reduce the entropyofthe gas he is manipulating butentropyisanondestructible property of matter [28]. But starting from as table equilibrium state there exist no states of lower energy and the same entropy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building on the Legacy of Professor Keenan. Entropy An Intrinsic Property of Matter

Gyftopoulos¹,

Beretta²,

Ghoniem³

et al. 2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is one and only one situation when Shannon-Jaynes informational-entropy coincides with the physical entropy of Clausius in thermodynamics, namely, the case of strict equilibrium [188,[242][243][244]. We recall that the extremum-principle approach produces the well established equilibrium statistical mechanics, and is providing a satisfactory formalism for describing nonequilibrium systems in a most general form.…”

Section: Thermo-statistics Of Complex Structured Systems and Nesefmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of nonequilibrium thermo-mechanical statistics in modern technologies and industrial processes: an overview

Rodrigues¹,

Silva²,

Silva³

et al. 2010

Braz. J. Phys.

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The nowadays notable development of all the modern technology, fundamental for the progress and well being of world society, imposes a great deal of stress in the realm of basic Physics, more precisely on ThermoStatistics. We do face situations in electronics and optoelectronics involving physical-chemical systems farremoved-from equilibrium, where ultrafast (in pico-and femto-second scale) and non-linear processes are present. Further, we need to be aware of the rapid unfolding of nano-technologies and use of low-dimensional systems (e.g., nanometric quantum wells and quantum dots in semiconductor heterostructures). All together this demands having an access to a Statistical Mechanics being efficient to deal with such requirements. It is worth noticing that the renowned Ryogo Kubo once stated that "statistical mechanics has been considered a theoretical endeavor. However, statistical mechanics exists for the sake of the real world, not for fictions. Further progress can only be hoped by close cooperation with experiment". Moreover, one needs to face the study of soft matter and fluids with complex structures (usually of the average self-affine fractal-like type). This is relevant for technological improvement in industries like, for example, that of polymers, petroleum, cosmetics, food, electronics and photonics (conducting polymers and glasses), in medical engineering, etc. It is then required to introduce a thermo-hydrodynamics going well beyond the classical (Onsagerian) one. Moreover, in the both type of situations above mentioned there often appear difficulties of description and objectivity (existence of so-called "hidden constraints"), which impair the proper application of the conventional ensemble approach used in the general, logically and physically sound, and well established Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics. A tentative to partially overcome such difficulties consists in resorting to non-conventional approaches. Here we briefly describe the construction of a Non-Equilibrium Statistical Ensemble Formalism (NESEF) that can deal, within a certain degree of success, with the situations above described. Several particular instances involving experimental observations and measurements in the area of semiconductor physics and in physics of fluids, which were analyzed in the context of the theory, are summarized. They comprise the cases of ultrafast optical spectroscopy; optical and transport processes in low-dimensional complex semiconductors; nonlinear transport in doped highly-polar semiconductors (of use in "blue diodes") under moderate to high electric fields; nonlinear higher-order thermo-hydrodynamics in fluids under driven flow, in normal solutions and in complex situations as in solutions of polymers, micelles, DNA, and in microbatteries.

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“…Similarly, the work required to erase the information has been predicted to be as much gained by the thermal difference in the engine [18]. A more controversial explanation is that there are no faster and slower particles, they are all stationary [19] [20]. However, this is problematic as it is difficult to reconcile with observed Brownian motion.…”

Section: Theoretical Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entropy at the Level of Individual Particles: Analysis of Maxwell’s Agent with a Hidden-Variable Theory

Pons¹,

Pons²,

Pons³

2016

JMP

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Problem: Maxwell's Agent (MA) is a thought experiment about whether the second Law is violated at smaller scales. This is a complex problem because the scale dependencies are unclear for perfect gas assumptions, quantum coherence, thermalisation, and contextual measurement. Purpose: The MA is explored from a non-local hidden-variable (NLHV) perspective. Approach: The Cordus theory, a specific NLHV solution, was applied at macroscopic to fundamental scales. Physical realism requires the Agent be included in the analysis. Findings: The primary function is sorting, i.e. a one-time separation of species by some attribute. The thermodynamic MA situation is merely a special case for reducing disorder (entropy). A one-time extraction of energy is possible. This requires input energy, hence the device only has thermodynamic leverage and is not a perpetual motion device. Inefficiencies arise from thermalisation causing short mean free path of Brownian motion, perfect gases having minimal interaction with the gate, ambiguity about spatial location arising from quantum superposition, contextual measurement interfering with the particle velocity, and bremsstrahlung hysteresis losses occurring when the Agent operates. Implications: Entropy is a group property at the bulk level, not a characteristic of the individual particle, and can be reversed at an energy cost at the particle level. Originality: The explanation spans multiple levels from macroscopic down to fundamental, which is unusual. Achieving an explanation from the NLHV sector is novel. The theory accommodates superposition, irreversibility, entropy, contextual measurement, coherence-discord transition, and Brownian motion.

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Maxwell's demon. (I) A thermodynamic exorcism

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Building on the Legacy of Professor Keenan. Entropy An Intrinsic Property of Matter

Building on the Legacy of Professor Keenan. Entropy An Intrinsic Property of Matter

The role of nonequilibrium thermo-mechanical statistics in modern technologies and industrial processes: an overview

Entropy at the Level of Individual Particles: Analysis of Maxwell’s Agent with a Hidden-Variable Theory

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