Landauer principle and the second law in a relativistic communication scenario

TL;DR

This paper explores the interplay of Landauer's principle and the second law of thermodynamics in a relativistic setting, analyzing how information transfer affects energy bounds in curved spacetime.

Contribution

It introduces a framework linking relativistic communication, thermodynamics, and information theory to establish energy bounds based on spacetime geometry.

Findings

Derived a bound on energy expenditure for information acquisition in relativistic scenarios

Connected spacetime metrics with thermodynamic limits in communication tasks

Extended Landauer's principle to curved spacetime contexts

Abstract

The problem of formulating thermodynamics in a relativistic scenario remains unresolved, although many proposals exist in the literature. The challenge arises due to the intrinsic dynamic structure of spacetime as established by the general theory of relativity. With the discovery of the physical nature of information, which underpins Landauer's principle, we believe that information theory should play a role in understanding this problem. In this work, we contribute to this endeavor by considering a relativistic communication task between two partners, Alice and Bob, in a general Lorentzian spacetime. We then assume that the receiver, Bob, reversibly operates a local heat engine powered by information, and seek to determine the maximum amount of work he can extract from this device. Since Bob cannot extract work for free, by applying both Landauer's principle and the second law of thermodynamics, we establish a bound on the energy Bob must spend to acquire the information in the first place. This bound is a function of the spacetime metric and the properties of the communication channel.