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Generation and Coherent Control of Pulsed Quantum Frequency Combs
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Maxwell's Demon in Quantum Mechanics.

Orly Shenker1, Meir Hemmo2

  • 1Department of Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 8, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Maxwell's Demon is compatible with quantum mechanics, challenging the universality of the Second Law of thermodynamics. This finding suggests the arrow of time may not stem from this fundamental law.

Keywords:
Maxwell’s Demonarrow of timeentropythe second law of thermodynamics

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Area of Science:

  • Thermodynamics
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Statistical Mechanics

Background:

  • Maxwell's Demon is a famous thought experiment questioning the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
  • The Second Law is often linked to the arrow of time, making its potential violation significant.
  • Previous attempts to resolve the paradox, including those based on Landauer's thesis, have been deemed not general enough.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate that Maxwell's Demon is compatible with quantum mechanics.
  • To analyze a specific experimental setup that violates the Second Law within a quantum framework.
  • To explore the quantum mechanical underpinnings of measurement, erasure, and macrostates.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of a specific, idealized experimental setup within standard quantum mechanics.
  • Development of two distinct arguments, one with and one without the projection postulate.
  • Investigation of the relationship between measurement and erasure in quantum systems.

Main Results:

  • Demonstration that Maxwell's Demon is compatible with quantum mechanics.
  • Proof that the analyzed quantum experimental setup violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
  • Identification of quantum mechanical counterparts to classical macrostates, explaining the Demon's efficacy at both micro and macro levels.

Conclusions:

  • The Second Law of Thermodynamics is not universally applicable.
  • The arrow of time cannot be solely explained by the Second Law.
  • Further investigation is needed to find alternative explanations for temporal directionality.