Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon

TL;DR

This paper presents an exactly solvable minimal model of an autonomous Maxwell demon that demonstrates how small systems can rectify thermal fluctuations to perform work and erase information, illustrating fundamental thermodynamics of information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, exactly solvable model of a Maxwell demon that can both generate work and erase information, providing a clear framework for studying thermodynamics of information.

Findings

Model operates as a Maxwell demon delivering work from thermal fluctuations.

Device can function as a Landauer eraser, removing information with external work.

Exact solutions and phase diagram elucidate the system's behavior.

Abstract

We describe a minimal model of an autonomous Maxwell demon, a device that delivers work by rectifying thermal fluctuations while simultaneously writing information to a memory register. We solve exactly for the steady-state behavior of our model, and we construct its phase diagram. We find that our device can also act as a "Landauer eraser", using externally supplied work to remove information from the memory register. By exposing an explicit, transparent mechanism of operation, our model offers a simple paradigm for investigating the thermodynamics of information processing by small systems.