Maxwell's demon and the thermodynamics of computation

Details Maxwell's demon and the thermodynamics of computation Maxwell's demon and the thermodynamics of computation

2002-03-05

arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0203017v1

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32, 569-579 (2001)

Physics

Quantum Physics

13 pages

Scientific paper

It is generally accepted, following Landauer and Bennett, that the process of measurement involves no minimum entropy cost, but the erasure of information in resetting the memory register of a computer to zero requires dissipating heat into the environment. This thesis has been challenged recently in a two-part article by Earman and Norton. I review some relevant observations in the thermodynamics of computation and argue that Earman and Norton are mistaken: there is in principle no entropy cost to the acquisition of information, but the destruction of information does involve an irreducible entropy cost.

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