(Back to
the menu - click here.)
|
Date: |
Download-files: |
Time: |
|
Thursday, 21. Mar. 2013 |
Low resolution for MediaPlayer
(Windows), optimized for slow
network-connection: Low resolutions for MAC: High resolutions video (any system
with MP4-support): |
15:15 – 16:15 |
Abstract : Information
can be used to extract energy from a single thermal bath, in apparent
contradiction with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This observation was first
pointed out by Maxwell in 1867 with the introduction of his celebrated demon.
Since then, the demon has inspired much research on the relationship between
information and entropy, most of it focused on the thermodynamic cost of the
acquisition and processing of information. In the last years, new tools for the
study of the energetics of small fluctuating systems – the so-called
fluctuation theorems- have provided a better understanding of the
thermodynamics of information. In this seminar, I will review part of the
history of the Maxwell demon, with special emphasis on these recent results,
trying to give some clues to the fundamental question: what is information?