Realistic limits to computation I. Physical limits
Abstract
The ultimate limits of computation have been determined in the hypothesis that computation is a physical process occurring in a medium immersed in a thermal reservoir at assigned (room) temperature and thus obeying the underlying physical laws. Whichever is the information carrier, the computational figure of merit is inherently reduced by the need of transforming the microscopic computation outcome into a macroscopic event. The resulting loss of performance has been estimated in the hypothesis that the microscopic state is sensed with an apparatus undergoing repeated measurements.
- Publication:
-
Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing
- Pub Date:
- January 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s00339-006-3670-5
- Bibcode:
- 2007ApPhA..86...23C
- Keywords:
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- Power Dissipation;
- Nonvolatile Memory;
- Information Carrier;
- Thermal Reservoir;
- Microscopic State