How To Break the Second Law of Thermodynamics : Monte Carlo Simulation of Information Machine Realisation andTheory of Information

KTH, Skolan för teknikvetenskap (SCI) 2024

In 1867, James Clerk Maxwell introduced a thought experiment involving a micro-scopic being (observer) capable of making precise measurements of microscopic quantitiesthrough observation of the micro-dynamics in a thermodynamic system. This observerlater became known as Maxwell’s demon due to its devious impact on thermodynamics,particularly the perceived violation of the second law. Subsequently, Leo Szilard pro-posed a machine, the so-called Szilard Machine, which, by utilising a Maxwell’s demon,successfully extracts work from thermal fluctuations in a closed system, seemingly vio-lating the second law. This thesis re-evaluates the second law of thermodynamics in the context of the Szi-lard Machine and Maxwell demons. The study explores the intersection of informationtheory and thermal physics, both theoretically and practically, with the aid of MonteCarlo simulations. The results indicate that machines with information feedback control,such as those utilising a Maxwell demon, challenge classical statements of the second lawof thermodynamics. This is because classical formulations, such as Clausius’ and Kelvin’sstatements, do not account for the entropic content of information. Simulations of thesefeedback processes, in conjunction with the detailed fluctuation theorem, provide a basisfor understanding feedback processes in so-called information machines. Ultimately, thesecond law of thermodynamics is upheld by an alternative statement endorsed by thedetailed fluctuation theorem.

Thermodynamics; Non-equilibrium thermodynamics; Statistical Physics; Theoretical Physics; Physical Sciences; Fysik; Student thesis; info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis; text

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