Equation 2 · Part 3 · The Arrow of Time and the Engine of Evolution

Symbol T

Q_{\min} = k_{\mathrm{B}} T \ln 2

T

What this part means

the temperature.

Its job in the formula

T is an input to the expression that computes the quantity on the left.

Full expressionSymbol TArticle meaning

Where the article explains it

Rolf Landauer’s 1961 analysis established that any logically irreversible operation — one whose output does not determine a unique input, such as resetting a one-bit memory from either of two states to a single standard state — must, in an isothermal environment at temperature T , dissipate at least a fixed minimum quantity of heat to the surroundings: $Q_{\min} = k_{\mathrm{B}} T \ln 2$ .

The passage around this formula

…irreversible operation — one whose output does not determine a unique input, such as resetting a one-bit memory from either of two states to a single standard state — must, in an isothermal environment at temperature T , dissipate at least a fixed minimum quantity of heat to the surroundings: $Q_{\min} = k_{\mathrm{B}} T \ln 2$ . per bit erased [ 3 ] . The bound follows from Liouville’s theorem: the phase-space volume corresponding to distinguishable logical states cannot be compressed into fewer accessible microstates without…

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Learn the underlying idea

A variable is a named place for a value. Its letter is a local label: x can mean position in one formula and a data point in another.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

[3] Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process ↗

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