Is stochastic thermodynamics the key to understanding the energy costs of computation
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The relationship between the thermodynamic and computational properties of physical systems has been a major theoretical interest since at least the 19th century. It has also become of increasing practical importance over the last half-century as the energetic cost of digital devices has exploded. Importantly, real-world computers obey multiple physical constraints on how they work, which affects their thermodynamic properties. Moreover, many of these constraints apply to both naturally occurring computers, like brains or Eukaryotic cells, and digital systems. Most obviously, all such systems must finish their computation quickly, using as few degrees of freedom as possible. This means that they operate far from thermal equilibrium. Furthermore, many computers, both digital and biological, are modular, hierarchical systems with strong constraints on the connectivity among their subsystems. Yet another example is that to simplify their design, digital computers are required to be periodic processes governed by a global clock. None of these constraints were considered in 20th-century analyses of the thermodynamics of computation. The new field of stochastic thermodynamics provides formal tools for analyzing systems subject to all of these constraints. We argue here that these tools may help us understand at a far deeper level just how the fundamental thermodynamic properties of physical systems are related to the computation they perform.
Date Issued
2024-11-05
Date Acceptance
2024-09-12
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 2024, 121 (45)
ISSN
0027-8424
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
Volume
121
Issue
45
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed
under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC
BY-NC-ND).
under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC
BY-NC-ND).
Identifier
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2321112121
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e2321112121
Date Publish Online
2024-10-29