The maximum speed of dynamical evolution
Abstract
We discuss the problem of counting the maximum number of distinct states that an isolated physical system can pass through in a given period of time---its maximum speed of dynamical evolution. Previous analyses have given bounds in terms of the standard deviation of the energy of the system; here we give a strict bound that depends only on E-E0, the system's average energy minus its ground state energy. We also discuss bounds on information processing rates implied by our bound on the speed of dynamical evolution. For example, adding one Joule of energy to a given computer can never increase its processing rate by more than about 3x10^33 operations per second.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9710043,
title = {The maximum speed of dynamical evolution},
author = {Norman Margolus and Lev B. Levitin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9710043},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
14 pages, no figures, LaTex2e (elsart). This is the published version, which includes brief semi-classical and relativistic discussions not included in the original preprint