Abstract
The reversible computation paradigm aims to provide a new foundation for general classical digital computing that is capable of circumventing the thermodynamic limits to the energy efficiency of the conventional, non-reversible digital paradigm. However, to date, the essential rationale for, and analysis of, classical reversible computing (RC) has not yet been expressed in terms that leverage the modern formal methods of non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics (NEQT). In this paper, we begin developing an NEQT-based foundation for the physics of reversible computing. We use the framework of Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad dynamics (a.k.a. Lindbladians) with multiple asymptotic states, incorporating recent results from resource theory, full counting statistics and stochastic thermodynamics. Important conclusions include that, as expected: (1) Landauer’s Principle indeed sets a strict lower bound on entropy generation in traditional non-reversible architectures for deterministic computing machines when we account for the loss of correlations; and (2) implementations of the alternative reversible computation paradigm can potentially avoid such losses, and thereby circumvent the Landauer limit, potentially allowing the efficiency of future digital computing technologies to continue improving indefinitely. We also outline a research plan for identifying the fundamental minimum energy dissipation of reversible computing machines as a function of speed.
Highlights
The concept of reversible computation, or computation without information loss, played a centrally important role in the historical development of the thermodynamics of computation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Modeling the allowed thermal transformations of open quantum systems in detail is the topic of the resource theory of quantum thermodynamics (RTQT), which we review briefly in Section 2.2.1 below
Much work remains to complete the task of fully fleshing out a useful physical theory of classical reversible computing based on the tools of modern quantum thermodynamics and quantum information
Summary
The concept of reversible computation, or computation without information loss (even locally), played a centrally important role in the historical development of the thermodynamics of computation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. It remains critically important today in the field of quantum computing, where it is necessary for maintaining coherence in quantum algorithms [8]. The original motivation for reversible computation, which was to circumvent the kBT ln 2 Landauer limit on energy dissipation in classical digital computing, is less often remembered today. When properly stated and interpreted, Landauer’s limit holds regardless of whether the computing system is at (or even close to) equilibrium internally. This statement follows directly from elementary statistical physics and information theory [11,12]
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