Books

Short works

Books : reviews

Harvey S. Leff, Andrew F. Rex, eds.
Maxwell's Demon: entropy, information, computing.
Adam Hilger. 1990

About 120 years ago, James Clerk Maxwell introduced his now legendary hypothetical ‘demon’ as a challenge to the integrity of the second law of thermodynamics. Fascination with the demon persisted throughout the development of statistical and quantum physics, information theory and computer science – and links have been established between Maxwell’s demon and each of these disciplines. The demon’s seductive quality makes it appealing to physical scientists, engineers, computer scientists, biologists, psychologists, and historians and philosophers of science.

This book, Maxwell’s Demon: Entropy, Information, Computing, brings under one cover twenty-five reprints, including seminal works by James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson; historical reviews by Martin Klein, Edward Daub and Peter Heimann; important contributions by Leo Szilard, Leon Brillouin, Dennis Gabor and Jerome Rothstein; and remarkable innovations by Rolf Landauer and Charles Bennett. Until now this important material has been scattered throughout diverse journals.

Maxwell’s Demon: Entropy, Information, Computing makes the key literature easily available and helps with the cross-fertilisation of ideas in different disciplines. An annotated chronological bibliography provides a colourful perspective on Maxwell’s demon and a rich trail of citations for further study.

Contents

William Thomson. Kinetic theory of the dissipation of energy. Nature, IX. 1874
Edward E. Daub. Maxwell's demon. Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci., 1. 1970
Martin J. Klein. Maxwell, his demon, and the second law of thermodynamics. Am. Sci., 58. 1970
L. Brillouin. Life, thermodynamics, and cybernetics. Am. Sci., 37. 1949
Jerome Rothstein. Information, measurement, and quantum mechanics. Science, 114. 1951
Leo Szilard. On the decrease of entropy in a thermodynamic system by the intervention of intelligent beings. Behavioural Science, 9. 1964
L. Brillouin. Maxwell's demon cannot operate: information and Entropy I. J. Appl. Phys., 22. 1951
J. M. Jauch, J. G. Baron. Entropy, information and Szilard's paradox. Helv. Phys. Acta., 45. 1972
Olivier Costa de Beauregard, Myron Tribus. Information theory and thermodynamics. Helv. Phys. Acta., 47. 1974
Rolf Landauer. Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process. IBM J. Res. Dev., 5. 1961
Wojciech H. Zurek. Maxwell's demon, Szilard's engine and quantum measurements. Frontiers of Non-Equilibrium Statistical Physics. 1984
Elihu Lubkin. Keeping the entropy of measurement: Szilard revisited. Int. J. Theor. Phys., 26. 1987
Charles H. Bennett. The thermodynamics of computation---a review. Int. J. Theor. Phys., 21. 1982
Rolf Landauer. Computation: a fundamental physical view. Phys. Scr., 35. 1987
Charles H. Bennett. Notes on the history of reversible computation. IBM J. Res. Dev., 32. 1988
P. M. Heimann. Molecular forces, statistical representation and Maxwell's demon. Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci. 1, 213-27. 1970
Kenneth Denbigh. How subjective is entropy?. Chem. Brit. 17, 168-85. 1981
Alvin M. Weinberg. On the relation between information and energy systems: a family of Maxwell's demons. Interdisciplinary Sci. Rev. 7, 47-52. 1982
Richard C. Raymond. The well-informed heat engine. Am. J. Phys. 19, 109-12. 1951
C. Finfgeld, S. Machlup. Well-informed heat engine: efficiency and maximum power. Am. J. Phys. 28, 324-6. 1960
Philip Rodd. Some comments on entropy and information. Am. J. Phys. 32, 333-5. 1964
Dennis Gabor. Light and information. (section 5, appendix IV) Progress in Optics 1, 111-53. 1964
Andrew F. Rex. The operation of Maxwell's demon in a low entropy system. Am. J. Phys. 55, 359-62. 1987
Charles H. Bennett. Logical reversibility of computation. IBM J. Res. Dev. 17, 525-32. 1973
Richard A. Laing. Maxwell's demon and computation. Phil. Sci. 41, 171-8. 1974

Harvey S. Leff, Andrew F. Rex, eds.
Maxwell's Demon 2: entropy, classical and quantum information, computing: 2nd edn.
Institute of Physics. 2003

p.xii. In order to add 16 new reprints, we have reluctantly omitted 10 of the 25 first edtion reprints.

Contents

Wojciech H. Zurek. Algorithmic Randomness, Physical Entropy, Measurements, and the Demon of Choice. 1998
Overview to Maxwell's Demon. 2003
William Thomson. Kinetic theory of the dissipation of energy. Nature, IX. 1874
Edward E. Daub. Maxwell's demon. Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci., 1. 1970
Martin J. Klein. Maxwell, his demon, and the second law of thermodynamics. Am. Sci., 58. 1970
L. Brillouin. Life, thermodynamics, and cybernetics. Am. Sci., 37. 1949
Jerome Rothstein. Information, measurement, and quantum mechanics. Science, 114. 1951
P. A. Skordos, Wojciech H. Zurek. Maxwell's demon, rectifiers, and the second law: computer simulation of Smoluchowski's trapdoor. Am. J. Phys., 60. 1992
Andrew F. Rex, Ross Larson. Entropy and information for an automated Maxwell's demon. PhysComp '92.. 1992
Leo Szilard. On the decrease of entropy in a thermodynamic system by the intervention of intelligent beings. Behavioural Science, 9. 1964
L. Brillouin. Maxwell's demon cannot operate: information and Entropy I. J. Appl. Phys., 22. 1951
J. M. Jauch, J. G. Baron. Entropy, information and Szilard's paradox. Helv. Phys. Acta., 45. 1972
Olivier Costa de Beauregard, Myron Tribus. Information theory and thermodynamics. Helv. Phys. Acta., 47. 1974
Rolf Landauer. Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process. IBM J. Res. Dev., 5. 1961
Entropy of measurement and erasure: Szilard's membrane model revisited. Am. J. Phys., 63. 1994
Kousuke Shizume. Heat generation required by erasure. Phys. Rev. E, 52. 1995
Barbara Piechocinska. Information erasure. Phys. Rev. A, 61. 2000
Wojciech H. Zurek. Maxwell's demon, Szilard's engine and quantum measurements. Frontiers of Non-Equilibrium Statistical Physics. 1984
Elihu Lubkin. Keeping the entropy of measurement: Szilard revisited. Int. J. Theor. Phys., 26. 1987
Seth Lloyd. Use of mutual inforation to decrease entropy: implications for the second law of thermodynamics. Phys. Rev. A, 39. 1989
Seth Lloyd. Quantum-mechanical Maxwell's demon. Phys. Rev. A, 56. 1997
Vlatko Vedral. Landauer's erasure, error correction and entanglement. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, 456. 2000
Carlton M. Caves. Information and entropy. Phys. Rev. E, 47. 1993
Rudiger Schack. Algorithmic information and simplicity in statistical physics. Int. J. Theor. Phys., 21. 1997
Charles H. Bennett. The thermodynamics of computation---a review. Int. J. Theor. Phys., 21. 1982
Rolf Landauer. Computation: a fundamental physical view. Phys. Scr., 35. 1987
Charles H. Bennett. Notes on the history of reversible computation. IBM J. Res. Dev., 32. 1988
Rolf Landauer. The physical nature of information. Phys. Rev. A, 217. 1996
Rolf Landauer. Minimal energy requirements in communication. Science, 272. 1996
Charles H. Bennett. Information physics in cartoons. Superlattices and Microstructures, 23. 1998
Neil A. Gershenfeld. Signal entropy and the thermodynamics of computation. IBM Sys. J., 35. 1996
Seth Lloyd. Ultimate physical limits to computation. Nature, 406. 2000