Beyond Landauer erasure

DOI10.3390/E15114956MaRDI QIDQ280695zbMATH OpenOpenAlexDBLPWikidataFDO

Authors Stephen M. Barnett, Joan A. Vaccaro

Publication date 10 May 2016

Published in Entropy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.7821

zbMATH Keywords

information erasuremaximum entropy principlespin reservoirthermodynamics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum information, communication, networks (quantum-theoretic aspects) (81P45) Foundations of equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B03) Measures of information, entropy (94A17)

Abstract: In thermodynamics one considers thermal systems and the maximization of entropy subject to the conservation of energy. A consequence is Landauer's erasure principle, which states that the erasure of 1 bit of information requires a minimum energy cost equal to $kTln(2)$ where $T$ is the temperature of a thermal reservoir used in the process and $k$ is Boltzmann's constant. Jaynes, however, argued that the maximum entropy principle could be applied to any number of conserved quantities which would suggest that information erasure may have alternative costs. Indeed we showed recently that by using a reservoir comprising energy degenerate spins and subject to conservation of angular momentum, the cost of information erasure is in terms of angular momentum rather than energy. Here we extend this analysis and derive the minimum cost of information erasure for systems where different conservation laws operate. We find that, for each conserved quantity, the minimum resource needed to erase 1 bit of memory is $lambd{a}^{-1}ln(2)$ where $lambda$ is related to the average value of the conserved quantity. The costs of erasure depend, fundamentally, on both the nature of the physical memory element and the reservoir with which it is coupled.

Review text

The Landauer's erasure principle says that the erasure of one bit of information requires a minimum energy cost equal to \(kT\) \(\ln 2\) (\(T\): temperature of the reservoir, \(k\): Boltzmann's constant). This applied to thermodynamics in general means that a thermodynamic system the maximization of entropy is always subject to the conservation of energy, to begin with the classical theory. Now, however, after the fundamental observation of \textit{E. T. Jaynes} [Probability theory. The logic of science. Edited and with a foreword by G. Larry Bretthorst. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003; Zbl 1045.62001); Phys. Rev., II. Ser. 106, 620--630 (1957; Zbl 0084.43701)] we are aware that, in general, the maximum entropy principle is valid together with any number of conserved quantities. In other words : information erasure may have alternative costs (e. q. conservation of angular momentum and the often more complicated question of spins). Now this paper analyses the question and derives the minimum cost of information erasure for systems, where different conservation laws operate. The result is that for each conserved quantity the minimum resource needed to erase one bit of information memory is \(\alpha^{-1}\ln 2\), where is related to the average value of the conserved quantity. The final conclusion is that the costs of erasure depend on both the nature of the physical memory element and the reservoir with which it is coupled.

Recommendations

• The cost of erasing information
• Information erasure without an energy cost
• Eaters of the lotus: Landauer's principle and the return of Maxwell's demon
• Refining Landauer's stack: balancing error and dissipation when erasing information
• Landauer's principle and the conservation of information
• The (absence of a) relationship between thermodynamic and logical reversibility
• Thermodynamics of computing: Entropy of nonergodic systems
• Maxwell's demon and the thermodynamics of computation
• Information erasure in quantum systems
• Entropy and computation: the Landauer-Bennett thesis reexamined

Cites work

• Information erasure without an energy cost
• Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics
• Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process

Cited in

(21)

• Overwriting information: correlations, physical costs, and environment models
• Refining Landauer's stack: balancing error and dissipation when erasing information
• Spontaneous fluctuation-symmetry breaking and the Landauer principle
• Thermodynamics of computing: Entropy of nonergodic systems
• A note on the Landauer principle in quantum statistical mechanics
• A cost/speed/reliability tradeoff to erasing
• Information erasure without an energy cost
• The cost of erasing information
• Information and entropy in the baker’s map
• Landauer's erasure, error correction and entanglement
• Quantum reference frames and their applications to thermodynamics
• Designing the optimal bit: balancing energetic cost, speed and reliability
• The stochastic thermodynamics of computation
• Beyond heat baths. II: Framework for generalized thermodynamic resource theories
• Thermodynamic cost of reliability and low temperatures: Tightening Landauer's principle and the second law
• Forgetting and gravitation: from Landauer's principle to Tolman's temperature
• Thermodynamic resource theories, non-commutativity and maximum entropy principles
• A fundamental lower bound of the cost for bit reset
• Information erasure in quantum systems
• Energy-based entanglement detection and the thermodynamic significance of quantum Fisher information
• Landauer's principle and the conservation of information

This page was built for publication: Beyond Landauer erasure

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q280695)