The Physics of Maxwell's demon and information

TL;DR

This paper explores the historical and modern significance of Maxwell's demon in understanding the relationship between thermodynamics and information, emphasizing its impact on quantum mechanics and gravity.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of Maxwell's demon's role in connecting thermodynamics with information theory, including recent developments in quantum information.

Findings

Maxwell's demon clarifies the second law of thermodynamics in quantum systems

Information plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics and gravity theories

Recent work links Maxwell's demon to quantum information processing

Abstract

Maxwell's demon was born in 1867 and still thrives in modern physics. He plays important roles in clarifying the connections between two theories: thermodynamics and information. Here, we present the history of the demon and a variety of interesting consequences of the second law of thermodynamics, mainly in quantum mechanics, but also in the theory of gravity. We also highlight some of the recent work that explores the role of information, illuminated by Maxwell's demon, in the arena of quantum information theory.