EPL Association, European Physical Society Letters, 1(95), p. 10005
DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/95/10005
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The sum of the average work dissipated plus the information gained during a thermodynamic process with discrete feedback must exceed zero. We demonstrate that the minimum value of zero is attained only by feedback-reversible processes that are indistinguishable from their time-reversal, thereby extending the notion of thermodynamic reversibility to feedback processes. In addition, we prove that in every realization of a feedback-reversible process the sum of the work dissipated and change in uncertainty is zero. ; Comment: 6 pages, 4, figures, accepted in EPL, expanded discussion of thermodynamic reversibility