Generalising thermodynamic efficiency of interactions: inferential, information-geometric and computational perspectives

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Chen, Qianyang, Ay, Nihat, Prokopenko, Mikhail
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866917137718706176
author Chen, Qianyang
Ay, Nihat
Prokopenko, Mikhail
author_facet Chen, Qianyang
Ay, Nihat
Prokopenko, Mikhail
contents Self-organizing systems consume energy to generate internal order. The concept of thermodynamic efficiency, drawing from statistical physics and information theory, has previously been proposed to characterise a change in control parameter by relating the resulting predictability gain to the required amount of work. However, previous studies have taken a system-centric perspective and considered only single control parameters. Here, we generalise thermodynamic efficiency to multiple control parameters and extend the definition of thermodynamic efficiency to protocols in arbitrary directions, by introducing directional efficiency. Taking an observer-centric perspective, we derive two novel formulations. The first, an inferential form, relates efficiency to fluctuations of macroscopic observables, interpreting thermodynamic efficiency in terms of how well the system parameters can be inferred from observable macroscopic behaviour. The second, an information-geometric form, expresses efficiency in terms of the Fisher information matrix, interpreting it with respect to how difficult it is to navigate the statistical manifold defined by the control protocol. This observer-centric perspective is contrasted with the existing system-centric view, where efficiency is considered an intrinsic property of the system.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_10102
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Generalising thermodynamic efficiency of interactions: inferential, information-geometric and computational perspectives
Chen, Qianyang
Ay, Nihat
Prokopenko, Mikhail
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
68T05, 82B20, 82B27, 94A17
I.2.11
Self-organizing systems consume energy to generate internal order. The concept of thermodynamic efficiency, drawing from statistical physics and information theory, has previously been proposed to characterise a change in control parameter by relating the resulting predictability gain to the required amount of work. However, previous studies have taken a system-centric perspective and considered only single control parameters. Here, we generalise thermodynamic efficiency to multiple control parameters and extend the definition of thermodynamic efficiency to protocols in arbitrary directions, by introducing directional efficiency. Taking an observer-centric perspective, we derive two novel formulations. The first, an inferential form, relates efficiency to fluctuations of macroscopic observables, interpreting thermodynamic efficiency in terms of how well the system parameters can be inferred from observable macroscopic behaviour. The second, an information-geometric form, expresses efficiency in terms of the Fisher information matrix, interpreting it with respect to how difficult it is to navigate the statistical manifold defined by the control protocol. This observer-centric perspective is contrasted with the existing system-centric view, where efficiency is considered an intrinsic property of the system.
title Generalising thermodynamic efficiency of interactions: inferential, information-geometric and computational perspectives
topic Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
68T05, 82B20, 82B27, 94A17
I.2.11
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10102