Toyabe Shoichi, Muneyuki Eiro
Systems Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich 80799, Germany.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, Kasuga, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
Biophysics (Nagoya-shi). 2013 Aug 7;9:107-12. doi: 10.2142/biophysics.9.107. eCollection 2013.
Maxwell's demon is a hypothetical creature that can convert information to free energy. A debate that has lasted for more than 100 years has revealed that the demon's operation does not contradict the laws of thermodynamics; hence, the demon can be realized physically. We briefly review the first experimental demonstration of Maxwell's demon of Szilard's engine type that converts information to free energy. We pump heat from an isothermal environment by using the information about the thermal fluctuations of a Brownian particle and increase the particle's free energy.
麦克斯韦妖是一种可以将信息转化为自由能量的假想生物。一场持续了100多年的争论表明，妖的运作并不违反热力学定律；因此，这种妖在物理上是可以实现的。我们简要回顾了将信息转化为自由能量的西拉德引擎型麦克斯韦妖的首次实验证明。我们利用关于布朗粒子热涨落的信息从等温环境中抽取热量，并增加粒子的自由能量。
