WINLAB 20201 Summer Internship
Graphs and Results
Maxwell's Demon
The following are graphs collected from our Maxwell’s Demon simulation. The Time vs Percent Sorted graph shows that as bit error rate increases, the demon loses its capability to completely sort the particles. For instance, at a bit error rate of 0.02, the particles hover around 95% sorted, but at a bit error rate of 0.32, the particles hover around 75% sorted. The Information vs Energy Transfer graph shows that less energy is transferred as bit error increases. Additionally, as bit error increases, more total information is sent between the world and the demon throughout the course of the simulation. Thus, as the bit error rate increases, more bits of information are necessary for a message to transfer 1 joule of energy, evidenced in the following table.
High Pressure Demon
The following are graphs collected from our High Pressure Demon simulation. The Time vs Height graph shows the height of the plug throughout the course of the simulation, with a height of 150 meaning that the plug is floating at the top of the container and a height of 0 meaning that the plug has completely fallen. As you can see, the plug experiences a greater number of big falls as the bit error rate increases, and ends up falling all the way after a bit error rate of 0.5 is achieved. The Information vs Energy Transfer graph shows a similar trend to Maxwell’s Demon. As the bit error rate increases, less energy is transferred from the particles to the plug. Once again, this means that a higher bit error rate corresponds to a higher Bits/Joule rate, evidenced in the table below.
Conclusion
Based on our results from Maxwell’s Demon and High Pressure Demon, we can conclude that a general trend is present as the bit error rate increases. Specifically, the demon’s effectiveness decreases, so it begins to transfer less and less energy throughout the course of the simulation. Moreover, the number of bits necessary for a message to transfer one joule of energy also increases to counteract the effects of bit error. Lastly, we noticed that the Bits/Joule rates drastically vary between the two demons. In Maxwell’s Demon, it requires 236 bits to transfer 1 joule of energy at a bit error rate of 0, but in High Pressure Demon, it only requires 0.43 bits to transfer 1 joule of energy at the same bit error rate. Thus, we can conclude that specific results vary from demon to demon, but the general trend is likely still the same.