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Hidden Dissipation and Irreversibility in Maxwell's Demon.
1Physics Department, Seattle University, 901 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122, USA.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 21, 2022
Summary
Maxwell's demon paradox is resolved mechanically, not by information theory. A new analysis reveals hidden work and dissipation, proving intrinsic irreversibility and a stricter entropy production limit.
Area of Science:
- Thermodynamics
- Statistical Mechanics
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Maxwell's demon, a 150-year-old thought experiment, appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics by reducing entropy without work.
- Modern nanomachinery increasingly challenges thermodynamic limits, making this paradox relevant.
- Existing explanations based on information erasure fail to predict irreversibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a purely mechanical resolution to the Maxwell's demon paradox.
- To analyze transport fluxes and identify hidden work and dissipation.
- To establish a new lower bound on entropy production and demonstrate intrinsic irreversibility.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of transport fluxes (mass, momentum, energy) during the demon's operation.
- Calculation of dissipation associated with these fluxes.
- Linking thermodynamic irreversibility to mechanical irreversibility via asymmetric speed selection.
Main Results:
- Transport fluxes imply "hidden" external work and dissipation.
- A new, strictly positive lower bound on entropy production by the demon is derived.
- This bound is more stringent than the second law, implying intrinsic thermodynamic irreversibility.
Conclusions:
- A mechanical resolution resolves the Maxwell's demon paradox without invoking information theory.
- The demon's operation inherently involves dissipation and positive entropy production.
- Macroscopic irreversibility emerges from the microscopic asymmetry in the demon's operation.
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