Abstract
The fundamental lower bounds on the thermodynamic energy cost of measurement and information erasure are determined. The lower bound on the erasure validates Landauer’s principle for a symmetric memory; for other cases, the bound indicates the breakdown of the principle. Our results constitute the second law of “information thermodynamics,” in which information content and thermodynamic variables are treated on an equal footing.
- Received 24 September 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.250602
©2009 American Physical Society
Erratum
Erratum: Minimal Energy Cost for Thermodynamic Information Processing: Measurement and Information Erasure [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 250602 (2009)]
Takahiro Sagawa and Masahito Ueda
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 189901 (2011)
Synopsis
The demon is in the details
Published 29 June 2009
In the theory of statistical information processing, what is the minimum amount of energy needed to make a measurement and then erase its memory?
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