Fluctuation relations for irreversible emergence of information

[EN] Information theory and Thermodynamics have developed closer in the last years, with a growing application palette in which the formal equivalence between the Shannon and Gibbs entropies is exploited. The main barrier to connect both disciplines is the fact that information does not imply a dynamics, whereas thermodynamic systems unfold with time, often away from equilibrium. Here, we analyze chain-like systems comprising linear sequences of physical objects carrying symbolic meaning. We show that, after defining a reading direction, both reversible and irreversible informations emerge naturally from the principle of microscopic reversibility in the evolution of the chains driven by a protocol. We find fluctuation equalities that relate entropy, the relevant concept in communication, and energy, the thermodynamically significant quantity, examined along sequences whose content evolves under writing and revision protocols. Our results are applicable to nanoscale chains, where information transfer is subject to thermal noise, and extendable to virtually any communication system. This work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Grant Number PID2019-107391RB-I00. Arias-Gonzalez, JR. (2022). Fluctuation relations for irreversible emergence of information. Scientific Reports. 12(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21729-9 Weitenberg, C. et al. Single-spin addressing in an atomic Mott insulator. Nature 471, 319–324 (2011). Lewis-Swan, R. J., Safavi-Naini, A., Kaufman, A. M. & Rey, A. M. Dynamics of quantum information. Nat. Rev. Phys. 1, 627–634 (2019). Browaeys, A. & Lahaye, T. Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms. Nat. Phys. 16, 132–142 (2020). Hartke, T., Oreg, B., Jia, N. & Zwierlein, M. Quantum register of fermion pairs. Nature 601, 537–541 (2022). Landauer, R. Information is physical. Phys. Today 44, 23–29 (1991). Barato, A. C. & Seifert, U. Stochastic thermodynamics with information reservoirs. Phys. Rev. E 90, 042150 (2014). Parrondo, J. M. R., Horowitz, J. M. & Sagawa, T. Thermodynamics of information. Nat. Phys. 11, 131–139 (2015). Gavrilov, M., Chétrite, R. & Bechhoefer, J. Direct measurement of weakly nonequilibrium system entropy is consistent with Gibbs–Shannon form. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 11097–11102 (2017). Bérut, A. et al. Experimental verification of Landauer’s principle linking information and thermodynamics. Nature 483, 187–189 (2012). Hong, J., Lambson, B., Dhuey, S. & Bokor, J. Experi