2002/03/05 by J. Bub · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph
published as Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32, 569-579 (2001) · 13 pages
arxiv created 2002/03/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
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.