Coarse-grained entropy balance of the Szilard engine
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866908375928799232 |
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| author | Schmidt, Heinz-Jürgen Bröcker, Thomas |
| author_facet | Schmidt, Heinz-Jürgen Bröcker, Thomas |
| contents | In order to reconcile the entropy reduction of a system through external interventions that are linked to a measurement with the second law of thermodynamics, there are two main proposals: (i) The entropy reduction is compensated by the entropy increase as a result of the measurement on the system (``Szilard principle"). (ii) The entropy reduction is compensated by the entropy increase as a result of the erasure of the measurement results (``Landauer/Bennett principle"). It seems that the LB principle is widely accepted in the scientific debate. In contrast, in this paper we argue for a modified S principle and criticize the LB principle with regard to various points. Our approach is based on the concept of ``conditional action", which is developed in detail. To illustrate our theses, we consider the entropy balance of a variant of the well-known Szilard engine, understood as a classical mechanical system. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_22999 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Coarse-grained entropy balance of the Szilard engine Schmidt, Heinz-Jürgen Bröcker, Thomas Classical Physics History and Philosophy of Physics In order to reconcile the entropy reduction of a system through external interventions that are linked to a measurement with the second law of thermodynamics, there are two main proposals: (i) The entropy reduction is compensated by the entropy increase as a result of the measurement on the system (``Szilard principle"). (ii) The entropy reduction is compensated by the entropy increase as a result of the erasure of the measurement results (``Landauer/Bennett principle"). It seems that the LB principle is widely accepted in the scientific debate. In contrast, in this paper we argue for a modified S principle and criticize the LB principle with regard to various points. Our approach is based on the concept of ``conditional action", which is developed in detail. To illustrate our theses, we consider the entropy balance of a variant of the well-known Szilard engine, understood as a classical mechanical system. |
| title | Coarse-grained entropy balance of the Szilard engine |
| topic | Classical Physics History and Philosophy of Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.22999 |