Irreversible work and Maxwell demon in terms of quantum thermodynamic force

The second law of classical equilibrium thermodynamics, based on the positivity of entropy production, asserts that any process occurs only in a direction that some information may be lost (flow out of the system) due to the irreversibility inside the system. However, any thermodynamic system can exhibit fluctuations in which negative entropy production may be observed. In particular, in stochastic quantum processes due to quantum correlations and also memory effects we may see the reversal energy flow (heat flow from the cold system to the hot system) and the backflow of information into the system that leads to the negativity of the entropy production which is an apparent violation of the Second Law. In order to resolve this apparent violation, we will try to properly extend the Second Law to quantum processes by incorporating information explicitly into the Second Law. We will also provide a thermodynamic operational meaning for the flow and backflow of information. Finally, it is shown that negative and positive entropy production can be described by a quantum thermodynamic force.

Automated summary

The second law of classical equilibrium thermodynamics states that any process occurs with the loss of information and irreversibility, however, in quantum processes fluctuations may lead to negative entropy production, where heat flows from a cold system to a hot system and information flows back into the system. This apparent violation of the Second Law can be resolved by explicitly incorporating information into the law and describing negative and positive entropy production with a quantum thermodynamic force.