Information erasure and the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics

Song, D.D. and Winstanley , E. (2008) Information erasure and the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics. International Journal of Theoretical Physics , 47 (6). pp. 1692-1698. ISSN 1572-9575

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Abstract

We consider the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics in the light of quantum information theory, in particular information erasure and Landauer’s principle (namely, that erasure of information produces at least the equivalent amount of entropy). A small quantum system outside a black hole in the Hartle-Hawking state is studied, and the quantum system comes into thermal equilibrium with the radiation surrounding the black hole. For this scenario, we present a simple proof of the generalized second law based on quantum relative entropy. We then analyze the corresponding information erasure process, and confirm our proof of the generalized second law by applying Landauer’s principle.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2008 Springer. This is an author produced version of a paper published in 'International Journal of Theoretical Physics'. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Mrs Megan Hobbs
Date Deposited:	12 Mar 2010 16:05
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2013 17:00
Published Version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10773-007-9610-0
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Identification Number:	10.1007/s10773-007-9610-0
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/10553

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