Journal article
Thermodynamics as control theory
- Abstract:
- I explore the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics by treating the former as a control theory: A theory of which transitions between states can be induced on a system (assumed to obey some known underlying dynamics) by means of operations from a fixed list. I recover the results of standard thermodynamics in this framework on the assumption that the available operations do not include measurements which affect subsequent choices of operations. I then relax this assumption and use the framework to consider the vexed questions of Maxwell's demon and Landauer's principle. Throughout, I assume rather than prove the basic irreversibility features of statistical mechanics, taking care to distinguish them from the conceptually distinct assumptions of thermodynamics proper.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 257.6KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3390/e16020699
Authors
- Publisher:
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
- Journal:
- Entropy More from this journal
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- 699-725
- Publication date:
- 2014-01-01
- Edition:
- Publisher's version
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1099-4300
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- UUID:
-
uuid:f85e49c3-0f81-4af1-9d0b-14e0037ea812
- Local pid:
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ora:9680
- Deposit date:
-
2015-01-07
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- David Wallace
- Copyright date:
- 2014
- Notes:
-
c. 2014 by the author; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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