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Title: The stochastic thermodynamics of computation
Abstract: One of the major resource requirements of computers — ranging
from biological cells to human brains to digital computers — are the free
energy costs in running them. These thermodynamic properties of
computers have been a long-standing focus of research in statistical physics,
going back (at least) to the early semi-formal work of Maxwell and of Szilard.
Recent revolutionary breakthroughs in stochastic thermodynamics are allowing us for the first time to analyze the thermodynamics of computers in a fully rigorous manner. Here I illustrate some of these recent results, including the thermodynamic costs of (loop-free) digital circuits, of Turing machines, and
of asynchronous distributed computers like the interacting organelles in a cell.