Does Maxwell's Demon violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

[KMote]

I'm a newbie (obviously), but I just read this recent paper describing an "experimental realization of an autonomous Maxwell’s demon" (along with this review). I think I understand the general concept of Maxwell's thought experiment well enough (from a layman's perspective), but I'm having difficulty understanding the implications of Koski's new apparatus. The authors of the paper don't specifically claim to be violating the 2nd Law of Thermo; nevertheless, they are reducing entropy of the system under test (i.e. temperature drop). Can someone help me understand the significance of this paper? (I'm particularly interested in the meaning and plausibility of so-called "information-powered devices".)

 

[Martin0001]

I'm a newbie (obviously), but I just read this recent paper describing an "experimental realization of an autonomous Maxwell’s demon" (along with this review). I think I understand the general concept of Maxwell's thought experiment well enough (from a layman's perspective), but I'm having difficulty understanding the implications of Koski's new apparatus. The authors of the paper don't specifically claim to be violating the 2nd Law of Thermo; nevertheless, they are reducing entropy of the system under test (i.e. temperature drop). Can someone help me understand the significance of this paper? (I'm particularly interested in the meaning and plausibility of so-called "information-powered devices".)

No, it doesn't.
He will increase entropy by clearing registers of records.
Interestingly this creature is bringing together thermodynamics and information theory.

 

[atyy]

Just to add to Martin0001's reply, you can look up

http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210005
Notes on Landauer's principle, Reversible Computation and Maxwell's Demon
Charles H. Bennett

http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0203017
Maxwell's demon and the thermodynamics of computation
J. Bub

 

[vanhees71]

For a popular-science explanation of the resolution of the Maxwell-demon paradox see the excellent book

J. Gleick, Information