The information-theoretic foundation of thermodynamic work extraction

TL;DR

This paper establishes a fundamental link between information theory and thermodynamics, showing that deterministic work extraction requires distinguishable states, independent of scale or specific dynamical laws.

Contribution

It introduces a scale- and law-independent information-theoretic principle that underpins thermodynamic work extraction, broadening the theoretical foundation of thermodynamics.

Findings

Work can only be deterministically extracted from distinguishable states.

The result is independent of system scale and specific dynamical laws.

Provides a new connection between thermodynamics and information theory.

Abstract

In this paper I apply newly-proposed information-theoretic principles to thermodynamic work extraction. I show that if it is possible to extract work deterministically from a physical system prepared in any one of a set of states, then those states must be distinguishable from one another. This result is formulated independently of scale and of particular dynamical laws; it also provides a novel connection between thermodynamics and information theory, established via the law of conservation of energy (rather than the second law of thermodynamics). Albeit compatible with these conclusions, existing thermodynamics approaches cannot provide a result of such generality, because they are scale-dependent (relying on ensembles or coarse-graining) or tied to particular dynamical laws. This paper thus provides a broader foundation for thermodynamics, with implications for the theory of von Neumann's universal constructor