An autonomous out of equilibrium Maxwell's demon for controlling the energy fluxes produced by thermal fluctuations

Abstract

An autonomous out of equilibrium Maxwell's demon is used to reverse the natural direction of the heat flux between two electric circuits kept at different temperatures and coupled by the electric thermal noise. The demon does not process any information, but it achieves its goal by using a frequency dependent coupling with the two reservoirs of the system. There is no energy flux between the demon and the system, but the total entropy production (system+demon) is positive. The demon can be power supplied by thermocouples. The system and the demon are ruled by equations similar to those of two coupled Brownian particles and of the Brownian gyrator. Thus our results pave the way to the application of autonomous out equilibrium Maxwell demons to coupled nanosystems at different temperatures.