title: Work and information processing in a solvable model of Maxwell's demon.
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.
authors: Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors: Dibyendu
authors: D
authors: Mandal
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Jarzynski
mesh_terms: D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000379:methods*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010825:Physics; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014937:Work