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PreprintarXiv licencearXiv

Strengthened second law for periodic processes

  • Jake Schaefer
  • Ben Ansbacher
  • Jan Korbel
  • David H. Wolpert
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Abstract

We derive a lower bound on the entropy production of any physical system that evolves as a periodic process. Crucially, this lower bound is completely independent of the physical mechanism implementing the periodic dynamics; it follows purely from the definition of entropy production and the fact that whatever the physical mechanism is, it repeats in each period. In particular, the lower bound holds in both Markovian and non-Markovian systems, in systems that obey or violate (local) detailed balance, and even if the underlying physical mechanism uses currently unknown laws of physics. Moreover, the bound is strictly positive whenever the dynamics is not logically invertible. In this breadth of applicability, our bound is a strict strengthening of the second law. We illustrate our bound for spins coupled to two heat reservoirs and for finite automata.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{schaefer2026strengthened,
  title = {{Strengthened second law for periodic processes}},
  author = {Jake Schaefer and Ben Ansbacher and Jan Korbel and David H. Wolpert},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.00639},
  eprint = {2609.00639},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00639},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Strengthened second law for periodic processes
AU  - Jake Schaefer
AU  - Ben Ansbacher
AU  - Jan Korbel
AU  - David H. Wolpert
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/16
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.00639
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00639
AB  - We derive a lower bound on the entropy production of any physical system that evolves as a periodic process. Crucially, this lower bound is completely independent of the physical mechanism implementing the periodic dynamics; it follows purely from the definition of entropy production and the fact that whatever the physical mechanism is, it repeats in each period. In particular, the lower bound holds in both Markovian and non-Markovian systems, in systems that obey or violate (local) detailed balance, and even if the underlying physical mechanism uses currently unknown laws of physics. Moreover, the bound is strictly positive whenever the dynamics is not logically invertible. In this breadth of applicability, our bound is a strict strengthening of the second law. We illustrate our bound for spins coupled to two heat reservoirs and for finite automata.
ER  -