Twisted Radio Waves and Twisted Thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through a thought experiment that transmitting multiple independent information channels via twisted radio waves violates thermodynamic laws, indicating fundamental physical limits on such communication methods.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic argument showing the impossibility of transmitting many twisted wave modes simultaneously without violating the Second Law.

Findings

Transmitting multiple twisted wave channels in free space is thermodynamically forbidden.

A single-frequency antenna cannot exceed two independent information channels.

The analysis links electromagnetic modes with fundamental thermodynamic principles.

Abstract

We present and analyze a gedanken experiment and show that the assumption that an antenna operating at a single frequency can transmit more than two independent information channels to the far field violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Transmission of a large number of channels, each associated with an angular momentum "twisted wave" mode, to the far field in free space is therefore not possible.