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arXiv:1401.1685

Optimal work of quantum Szilard engine

Hee Joon Jeon, Sanguk Kim

Published Jan 8, 2014• 0 citations
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Abstract

We have found the optimal condition of the work performed by the quantum Szilard engine (SZE) containing multi-particles. Usually the optimal work of a cyclic engine is achieved when the whole thermodynamic process is reversible. Although the quantum SZE inherently contains an irreversible process, we can still define effectively reversible protocol based upon the force of time-forward and time-backward processes.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1401.1685

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We have found the optimal condition of the work performed by the quantum Szilard engine (SZE) containing multi-particles. Usually the optimal work of a cyclic engine is achieved when the whole thermodynamic process is reversible. Although the quantum SZE inherently contains an irreversible process, we can still define effectively reversible protocol based upon the force of time-forward and time-backward processes.
We have found the optimal conditions for work performed by the quantum Szilard engine (SZE) containing multi-particles under isothermal processes with inevitable irreversibility. We define the restorability as the probability that the reversibility of an engine with inevitable irreversibility is achieved when the time-backward process is performed. The optimal condition is then obtained when the restorability is maximized. This is equivalent to the condition that the time-forward force is equal to the time-backward force. We numerically confirm our expectation by using the quantum SZE containing three bosons or fermions.
The Szilard engine (SZE) is the quintessence of Maxwell's demon, which can extract the work from a heat bath by utilizing information. We present the first complete quantum analysis of the SZE, and derive an analytic expression of the quantum-mechanical work performed by a quantum SZE containing an arbitrary number of molecules, where it is crucial to regard the process of insertion or removal of a wall as a legitimate thermodynamic process. We find that more (less) work can be extracted from the bosonic (fermionic) SZE due to the indistinguishability of identical particles.
We present a complete-quantum description of a multiparticle Szilard engine that consists of a working substance and a Maxwell's demon. The demon is modeled as a multilevel quantum system with specific quantum control, and the working substance consists of identical particles obeying Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics. In this description, a reversible scheme to erase the demon's memory by a lower-temperature heat bath is used. We demonstrate that (1) the quantum control of the demon can be optimized for a single-particle Szilard engine so that the efficiency of the demon-assisted thermodynamic cycle could reach the Carnot cycle's efficiency and (2) the low-temperature behavior of the working substance is very sensitive to the quantum statistics of the particles and the insertion position of the partition.
A cyclic thermodynamic heat engine runs most efficiently if it is reversible. Carnot constructed such a reversible heat engine by combining adiabatic and isothermal processes for a system containing an ideal gas. Here, we present an example of a cyclic engine based on a single quantum mechanical particle confined to a potential well. The efficiency of this engine is shown to equal the Carnot efficiency because quantum dynamics is reversible. The quantum heat engine has a cycle consisting of adiabatic and isothermal quantum processes that are close analogues of the corresponding classical processes.
A quantum gate is a logically and thermodynamically reversible situation that effects a unitary transformation of qubits of superimposed information, and essentially constitutes a situation for a reversible quantum decision. A quantum decision is a symmetry break, and the effect of the function of a Szilard engine is a symmetry break. A quantum gate is a situation in which a reversible quantum decision can be made, and so if a logically and thermodynamically reversible Szilard engine can be theoretically constructed then it would function as a quantum gate. While the traditionally theorized Szilard engine is not thermodynamically reversible, if one of the bounding walls of a Szilard engine were to be constructed out of the physical information by which it functions in such a manner as to make that information available to both sides of the wall simultaneously, then such a Szilard engine would be both logically and thermodynamically reversible, and thus capable of function as a quantum gate. A theoretical model of the special case of a reversible Szilard engine functioning as a quantum gate is presented and discussed, and since a quantum decision is made when the shutter of a Szilard engine closes, the coherence of linked reversible Szilard engines should be considered as a state during which all of the shutters of linked Szilard engines are open simultaneously.