Stochastic thermodynamics for “Maxwell demon” feedbacks

Abstract

We propose a way to incorporate the effect of a specific class of feedback\nprocesses into stochastic thermodynamics. These "Maxwell demon" feedbacks do\nnot affect the system energetics but only the energy barriers between the\nsystem states (in a way which depends on the system states). They are thus of a\npurely informational nature. We show that the resulting formalism can be\napplied to study the thermodynamic effect of a feedback process acting on\nelectron transfers through a junction.\n