Speaker
Prof.
Ryoichi Kawai
(Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Description
The Landauer's principle states that erasure of a bit of
information requires at least k*ln2 of entropy production.
This principle becomes a foundation of the relation between
information theory and physics. Since its inception, the
principle has been challenged by many people while others
have demonstrated its validity. Due to the lack of rigorous
proof, there have been many misleading statements about the
principle. In fact, the above statement of the principle
itself invites misinterpretation. The recent development in
nonequilibrium statistical mechanics provides us with tools
to investigate the relation between information and physics.
Nevertheless, there are still misunderstanding and
misleading statements in recent literature. In order to
stimulate discussion at NORDITA, I will present a brief
review on the issues related to the Landauer's principle and
thermodynamics of logic gates utilizing the recent
understanding of irreversible processes.
Primary author
Prof.
Ryoichi Kawai
(Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham)
