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Bosonic statistics enhance Maxwell's demon in photonic experiment

Malaquias Correa Anguita, Sara Marzban, William F. Braasch, Twesh Upadhyaya, Gabriel Landi, Nicole Yunger Halpern, Jelmer J. Renema

Abstract

Maxwell's demon elucidates the value of information in thermodynamics, using measurement and feedback: he evolves an equilibrated gas into a nonequilibrium state, from which one might extract work. The demon can evolve the system farther from equilibrium, on average, if the particles obey Bose-Einstein statistics than if they are distinguishable. We experimentally support this decade-and-a-half-old prediction by comparing indistinguishable with distinguishable photons. We use a fully programmable linear-optics platform, whose local photon statistics were shown recently to behave thermally. Our demon nondestructively measures the number of photons in a subset of the modes. Guided by the outcome, he conditionally interchanges the measured and unmeasured modes. This interchange creates a positive temperature difference between a mode in a particular subset and a mode in the other. The temperature difference is greater, on average, if the photons are indistinguishable. This result bolsters a long-standing prediction about the interplay among thermodynamics, information, and quantum particle statistics. Additionally, this work suggests a thermodynamic means of weakly validating boson-sampling platforms.

Bosonic statistics enhance Maxwell's demon in photonic experiment

Abstract

Maxwell's demon elucidates the value of information in thermodynamics, using measurement and feedback: he evolves an equilibrated gas into a nonequilibrium state, from which one might extract work. The demon can evolve the system farther from equilibrium, on average, if the particles obey Bose-Einstein statistics than if they are distinguishable. We experimentally support this decade-and-a-half-old prediction by comparing indistinguishable with distinguishable photons. We use a fully programmable linear-optics platform, whose local photon statistics were shown recently to behave thermally. Our demon nondestructively measures the number of photons in a subset of the modes. Guided by the outcome, he conditionally interchanges the measured and unmeasured modes. This interchange creates a positive temperature difference between a mode in a particular subset and a mode in the other. The temperature difference is greater, on average, if the photons are indistinguishable. This result bolsters a long-standing prediction about the interplay among thermodynamics, information, and quantum particle statistics. Additionally, this work suggests a thermodynamic means of weakly validating boson-sampling platforms.
Paper Structure (1 equation, 3 figures)

This paper contains 1 equation, 3 figures.

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Experimental schematic. (a) State preparation. (b) Composite-system equilibration. (c) Maxwell-demon experiment. The dashed horizontal line partitions the modes into subsets $A$ (top) and $B$ (bottom). See the main text for details.
  • Figure 2: Composite-system equilibration. Probability $P(n)$ of detecting $n$ photons in one mode, averaged over Haar-random unitaries. (a) $M{=}3$ experiment. (b) Extended equilibration experiment featuring $M{=}3$ and $M{=}4$ interferometers. Insets depict photonic-processor configurations. See the main text for details.
  • Figure 3: Photonic Maxwell-demon experiment. Probability distributions $\mathcal{P}(\Delta n)$ over the photon-number difference $\Delta n \coloneqq n_A - n_B$, averaged over Haar-random unitaries. Insets depict photonic-processor configurations. (a) Passive-demon experiment. (b) Active-demon experiment. (c) Average local temperatures $\langle T \rangle$ in the active-demon experiment. See the main text for details.