How an autonomous quantum Maxwell demon can harness correlated information
Adrian Chapman, Akimasa Miyake
We study an autonomous quantum system which exhibits refrigeration under an information-work trade-off like a Maxwell demon. The system becomes correlated as a single "demon" qubit interacts sequentially with memory qubits while in contact with two heat reservoirs of different temperatures. Using strong subadditivity of the von Neumann entropy, we derive a global Clausius inequality to show thermodynamic advantages from access to correlated information. It is demonstrated, in a matrix product density operator formalism, that our demon can simultaneously realize refrigeration against a thermal gradient and erasure of information from its memory, which is impossible without correlations. The phenomenon can be even enhanced by the presence of quantum coherence.
arXiv:1506.09207•Physical Review E•Dec 15, 2015•45 citations