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ScienceQuiet 13d · day 13

Physicists show Maxwell's Demon extracts more energy using hidden system memories

Clemens Bechinger's team demonstrates information engines can exploit inaccessible dynamics to boost energy extraction three-fold.

newest coverage 13d agosummary written 11d ago5 pieces NewswiresGoogle NewsRedditMastodon

What to know

  • Researchers built a working Maxwell's demon by using a laser-trapped bead in a liquid with hidden molecular structures, demonstrating that information engines can exploit inaccessible dynamics.
  • By measuring the bead's position twice at precisely timed intervals (~1 second), the team inferred hidden network movements and extracted roughly three times more energy than systems without access to that information.
  • The work resolves Maxwell's 160-year-old paradox: the demon doesn't violate thermodynamics because information processing itself has thermodynamic costs, but shows that physical information can be converted into useful work.

“To be clear, Maxwell's original paradox has long since been resolved. The demon's trick is not free after all: Information is physical, and processing it comes with thermodynamic costs that preserve the second law.”

ScienceAlert, Science journalism outlet · ScienceAlert ↗

Clemens Bechinger Physicist leading research teamUniversity of Konstanz Research institution

Physicists show Maxwell's Demon extracts more energy using hidden system memories
sciencealert.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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    Bechinger team reports Maxwell's Demon extracts energy from hidden memories

    Physicists at the University of Konstanz demonstrated that by exploiting information hidden in a physical system's memory, Maxwell's demon can extract more energy than a memoryless system. The team used a laser to trap a microscopic glass bead in a liquid filled with micelles—molecular structures whose movements were not directly observable—and by measuring the bead's position at carefully timed intervals around one second apart, they could infer the hidden network's dynamics and adjust the laser trap more effectively to extract energy.

    “Information about a physical system can itself be used to extract useful work from that system.”
    — ScienceAlert (reporting Bechinger's research)

    1. 2 outlets first by ScienceAlert, 13d ago · also Yahoo · read ↗