Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Particle physics

Maxwell's other demon

Nature volume 402, pages 22–23 (1999)Cite this article

Worrying over Maxwell's demon1 has sharpened our understanding of the asymmetry between past and future in thermodynamics2. In his lecture opening the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge3, Maxwell touted another demon, the Devil in the Details: “The history of science shows that even during that phase of her progress in which she devotes herself to improving the accuracy of the numerical measurements of quantities with which she has long been familiar, she is preparing the materials for the subjugation of new regions, which would have remained unknown if she had been contented with the rough methods of her early pioneers”.

In rendering homage to Maxwell's other demon, physicists are again sharpening their understanding of the asymmetry between past and future, this time as it relates to the interactions of elementary particles. The details arising from careful experiments4,5 and new calculations6 are proving surprisingly difficult to reconcile.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Many calculations in the Standard Model are neatly summarized by pictures — known as Feynman graphs — that follow the trails of virtual particles in space and time.

References

  1. Maxwell, J. C. Theory of Heat 328 (Longmans, Green, London, 1871).

  2. Szilard, L. Z. Phys. 53, 840–856 (1929).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Maxwell, J. C. Scientific Papers Vol. 2 (ed. Niven, W.) 244 (Dover, New York, 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Alavi-Harati, A. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 22–27 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Debu, P. http://www.cern.ch/NA48

  6. Blum, T. et al. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-lat/9908025

  7. Barr, G. et al. Phys. Lett. B 317, 233–242 (1993).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wolfenstein, L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 13, 562–564 (1964).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kobayashi, M. & Maskawa, K. Prog. Theor. Phys. 49, 652–657 (1973).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ciuchini, M. et al. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-ph/9704274

  11. Bosch, S. et al. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-ph/9904408

  12. Pekurovsky, D. & Kilcup, G. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-lat/9903025

  13. Wilczek, F. Nature 394, 13–15 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Eyal, G., Masiero, A., Nir, Y. & Silvestrini, L. http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-ph/9908382

  15. Weinberg, S. The Quantum Theory of Fields I (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995).

  16. Christenson, J., Cronin, J., Fitch, V. & Turlay, R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 13, 138–140 (1964).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Abe, F. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5513–5518 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Institute for Advanced Study, School of Natural Sciences, Olden Lane, Princeton, 08540, New Jersey, USA

    Frank Wilczek

Authors
  1. Frank Wilczek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Wilczek.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wilczek, F. Maxwell's other demon. Nature 402, 22–23 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/46912

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/46912

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing