Experiments on the Thermodynamics of Information Processing

• Main Author: Gavrilov, Momčilo (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2017.
• Series: Springer Theses, Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research,
• Subjects: Physics.; Thermodynamics.; Physical measurements.; Measurement.; Measurement Science and Instrumentation.; History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics.

This thesis reveals how the feedback trap technique, developed to trap small objects for biophysical measurement, could be adapted for the quantitative study of the thermodynamic properties of small systems. The experiments in this thesis are related to Maxwell’s demon, a hypothetical intelligent, “...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Feedback Trap
• Real-time Calibration of a Feedback Trap
• High-Precision Test of Landauer’s Principle
• Erasure without Work in an Asymmetric, Double-well Potential
• Thermodynamical and Logical Irreversibility
• Arbitrarily Slow, Non-quasistatic, Isothermal Transformations
• Partial Memory Erasure: Testing Shannon’s Entropy Function
• Conclusion.