Piston-Like Information Engine II: Boundary-Controlled Optimum in Active Matter
Abstract
Information engines convert information into extractable work through measurements and feedback. We realize an engine that employs information to compress a gas of self-propelled bristle bots. Its work per measurement, W̅, is controlled by the size of the detection region Δx and the probability p1 that this region is vacant. In thermal systems, W̅ follows the universal form −p1 ln p1, whereas the active engine shows a qualitatively modified relation. As particle density increases, the maximum of W̅(Δx) switches between two distinct operating regimes. Notably, this transition is also found in the solutions that maximize power output for finite-time cycles with dynamics affected by dry friction. We attribute this nonequilibrium feature to the accumulation of active particles near the boundaries.
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BibTeX
@misc{hoek2026pistonlike,
title = {{Piston-Like Information Engine II: Boundary-Controlled Optimum in Active Matter}},
author = {Laura Hoek and Neta Ben Ari and Rémi Goerlich and Saar Rahav and Yael Roichman},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01760},
eprint = {2609.01760},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01760},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Piston-Like Information Engine II: Boundary-Controlled Optimum in Active Matter
AU - Laura Hoek
AU - Neta Ben Ari
AU - Rémi Goerlich
AU - Saar Rahav
AU - Yael Roichman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01760
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01760
AB - Information engines convert information into extractable work through measurements and feedback. We realize an engine that employs information to compress a gas of self-propelled bristle bots. Its work per measurement, W̅, is controlled by the size of the detection region Δx and the probability p_1 that this region is vacant. In thermal systems, W̅ follows the universal form −p_1 ln p_1, whereas the active engine shows a qualitatively modified relation. As particle density increases, the maximum of W̅(Δx) switches between two distinct operating regimes. Notably, this transition is also found in the solutions that maximize power output for finite-time cycles with dynamics affected by dry friction. We attribute this nonequilibrium feature to the accumulation of active particles near the boundaries.
ER -