Information is not a thermodynamic resource

Abstract

The so-called information-thermodynamics link has been created in a series of works starting from Maxwell demon and established by the idea of transforming information into work in the though experiment of Szilard which then evolved into the vast field of research. The aim of this note is firstly to present two new models of the Szilard engine containing arbitrary number of molecules which show irrelevance of acquiring information for work extraction. Secondly, the difference between the definition of entropy for ergodic systems and systems with ergodicity breaking constraints is emphasized. The role of nonergodic systems as information carriers and the thermodynamic cost of stability and accuracy of information encoding and processing is briefly discussed.