Entropy-reducing dynamics of a double demon

Abstract

We study the reduction in total entropy, and associated conversion of environmental heat into work, arising from the coupling and decoupling of two systems followed by processing determined by suitable mutual feedback. The scheme is based on the actions of Maxwell's demon, namely the performance of a measurement on a system followed by an exploitation of the outcome to extract work. When this is carried out in a symmetric fashion, with each system informing the exploitation of the other (and both therefore acting as a demon), it may be shown that the second law can be broken, a consequence of the self-sorting character of the system dynamics.