Is the focus on the erasure of a bit, rather than writing a bit, just conventional or is there a significant difference between the processes?
Is the focus on the erasure of a bit, rather than writing a bit, just conventional or is there a significant difference between the processes?
Erasure is logically irreversible, writing a bit is not. When you erase a bit you compress the logical phase space of the closed system, which means the missing information has to go somewhere — in this case a couple of very low energy phonons into the larger environment.