Related papers: Second Thoughts on the Second Law
A critical analysis of the feasibility of reversible computing is performed. The key question is: Is it possible to build a completely reversible computer? A closer look into the internal aspects of the reversible computing as well as the…
We investigate experimentally the relation between thermodynamical irreversibility and dissipation on a superconducting Xmon qubit. This relation also implies the second law and the Landauer principle on dissipation in the irreversible…
A unification of thermodynamics and information theory is proposed. It is argued that similarly to the randomness due to collisions in thermal systems, the quenched randomness that exists in data files in informatics systems contributes to…
A version of the second law of thermodynamics states that one cannot lower the energy of an isolated system by a cyclic operation. We prove this law without introducing statistical ensembles and by resorting only to quantum mechanics. We…
We challenge the statement that the principle of Thomson and the principle of Clausius are equivalent. A logical mistake in the supposed textbook proof of their equivalency is indicated. On this account we refine the heat-engine axiomatics.…
A toy-model is used for describing the steps achieving the no-reversible-direction axiom in a tutorial manner: i) choice of a state space results in the balance equations on state space which are linear in the process directions, ii) a…
Several comments are given to previous proofs of the generalised second law of thermodynamics: black hole entropy plus ordinary matter entropy never decreases for a thermally closed system. Arguments in favour of its truism are given in the…
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…
We obtain generalizations of the Kelvin-Planck, Clausius, and Carnot statements of the second law of thermodynamics, for situations involving information processing. To this end, we consider an information reservoir (representing, e.g. a…
Classical computations inherently require energy dissipation that increases significantly as the reliability of the computation improves. This dissipation arises when transitions between memory states are not balanced by their time-reversed…
Landauer argued that the process of erasing the information stored in a memory device incurs an energy cost in the form of a minimum amount of mechanical work. We find, however, that this energy cost can be reduced to zero by paying a cost…
Recently, there has been a considerable progress on the issue of the thermodynamic second law, which is known as the law of entropy increase or irreversibility. In particular, a novel symmetry known as the Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry is found…
The development of stochastic thermodynamics during the last decades prompted the discovery of novel nonequilibrium relations refining our understanding of the second law in small fluctuating systems and its connection with information…
This article discusses the concept of information and its intimate relationship with physics. After an introduction of all the necessary quantum mechanical and information theoretical concepts we analyze Landauer's principle that states…
An important step to incorporate information in the second law of thermodynamics was done by Landauer, showing that the erasure of information implies an increase in heat. Most attempts to justify Landauer's erasure principle are based on…
This brief note argues that, contrary to the claim of Ishioka and Fuchikami (chao-dyn/9902012), Landauer's principle is concerned a priori with entropy generation in computing processes. The concept of heat, in this principle, is only…
On the one hand, the dissipated heat of a thermodynamic work extraction process upper bounds the non-predictive information, which the associated system encodes about its environment. Thus, emergent information processing capabilities can…
Landauer's erasure principle is generalized to nondeterministic processes on systems having an arbitrary number of non-symmetrical logical states. The condition that the process is applied in the same way, irrespective of the initial…
The second law of thermodynamics implies a relationship between the net entropy export by the Earth and its internal irreversible entropy production. The application of this constraint for the purpose of understanding Earth's climate is…
It is argued using a Gedankenexperiment that a scalable quantum memory could be used as a perpetuum mobile of the second kind and hence cannot be realized in Nature. The reasoning is based on the assumption that the Landauer's principle for…