UC Irvine

The common saying, that information is power, takes a rigorous form in stochastic thermodynamics, where a quantitative equivalence between the two helps explain the paradox of Maxwell's demon in its ability to reduce entropy. In this letter, we build on earlier work on the interplay between the relative cost and benefits of information in producing work in cyclic operation of thermodynamic engines (by Sandberg et al. 2014). Specifically, we study the general case of overdamped particles in a time-varying potential (control action) in feedback that utilizes continuous measurements (nonlinear filtering) of a thermodynamic ensemble, to produce suitable adaptations of the second law of thermodynamics that involve information.