The nonequilibrium cost of accurate information processing

Chiribella，Giulio1,2,3; Meng，Fei1,4; Renner，Renato5; Yung，Man Hong4,6

2022-12-01

10.1038/s41467-022-34541-w

Nature Communications   Impact Factor & Quartile

2041-1723

Accurate information processing is crucial both in technology and in nature. To achieve it, any information processing system needs an initial supply of resources away from thermal equilibrium. Here we establish a fundamental limit on the accuracy achievable with a given amount of nonequilibrium resources. The limit applies to arbitrary information processing tasks and arbitrary information processing systems subject to the laws of quantum mechanics. It is easily computable and is expressed in terms of an entropic quantity, which we name the reverse entropy, associated to a time reversal of the information processing task under consideration. The limit is achievable for all deterministic classical computations and for all their quantum extensions. As an application, we establish the optimal tradeoff between nonequilibrium and accuracy for the fundamental tasks of storing, transmitting, cloning, and erasing information. Our results set a target for the design of new devices approaching the ultimate efficiency limit, and provide a framework for demonstrating thermodynamical advantages of quantum devices over their classical counterparts.

SCI

English

NI Journal Papers

Others

National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China[11675136];Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee[17300918];Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee[17326616];Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee[SRFS2021-7S02];

Science & Technology - Other Topics

Multidisciplinary Sciences

WOS:000887967900012

NATURE PORTFOLIO

2-s2.0-85142379804

Scopus

1.QICI Quantum Information and Computation Initiative,Department of Computer Science,The University of Hong Kong,Pokfulam Road,Hong Kong
2.Department of Computer Science,University of Oxford,Oxford,Parks Road,OX1 3QG,United Kingdom
3.Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,Waterloo,31 Caroline Street North,N2L 2Y5,Canada
4.Department of Physics,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China
5.Institute for Theoretical Physics,ETH Zürich,Zürich,Switzerland
6.Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering,Shenzhen,518055,China

Chiribella，Giulio,Meng，Fei,Renner，Renato,et al. The nonequilibrium cost of accurate information processing[J]. Nature Communications,2022,13(1).

Chiribella，Giulio,Meng，Fei,Renner，Renato,&Yung，Man Hong.(2022).The nonequilibrium cost of accurate information processing.Nature Communications,13(1).

Chiribella，Giulio,et al."The nonequilibrium cost of accurate information processing".Nature Communications 13.1(2022).