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From: recleve@utai.UUCP
Newsgroups: ut.theory
Subject: student seminar this week
Message-ID: <4153@utai.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Nov-87 11:55:04 EST
Article-I.D.: utai.4153
Posted: Tue Nov 17 11:55:04 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Nov-87 03:08:13 EST
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 11

Overview of tomorrow's talk:  We shall review some of the work of Bennett
and Landauer on *physical* (in an idealized sense) models of computers
(including "billiard-ball" Boolean circuits, and "enzymatic" Turing
machines).  These models are used to help clarify the role of energy
in physical computations (for instance, is there a minimum amount of
energy required to physically realize certain computations?).  There are
also some interesting connections between the notion of a computation as a
physical process and the second law of thermodynamics.  (These connections
lead to the resolution of a "paradox" in the 2nd law which physicists have
been trying to resolve since 1871.)  No prior knowledge of any physics shall
be assumed in the talk.--R.C.