The study of the physics of computation

Computation

Computation is defined as any type of calculation. Also defined as use of computer technology in Information processing.Computation is a process following a well-defined model understood and expressed in an algorithm, protocol, network topology, etc...

relates to understanding the fundamental physical limits of computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

s. This field has led to the investigation of how thermodynamics

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...

 limits information processing, the understanding of chaos

Chaos theory

Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...

 and dynamical systems, and a rapidly growing effort to invent new quantum computer

Quantum computer

A quantum computer is a device for computation that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. Quantum computers are different from traditional computers based on transistors...

s.

See also important publications in physics of computation

See also

• Digital physics
  Digital physics
  In physics and cosmology, digital physics is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the premise that the universe is, at heart, describable by information, and is therefore computable...
  
  
• Computation
  Computation
  Computation is defined as any type of calculation. Also defined as use of computer technology in Information processing.Computation is a process following a well-defined model understood and expressed in an algorithm, protocol, network topology, etc...
  
  
• Theory of computation
  Theory of computation
  In theoretical computer science, the theory of computation is the branch that deals with whether and how efficiently problems can be solved on a model of computation, using an algorithm...
  
  
• Reversible computation
• Hypercomputation
  Hypercomputation
  Hypercomputation or super-Turing computation refers to models of computation that are more powerful than, or are incomparable with, Turing computability. This includes various hypothetical methods for the computation of non-Turing-computable functions, following super-recursive algorithms...
  
  
• Physical information
  Physical information
  In physics, physical information refers generally to the information that is contained in a physical system. Its usage in quantum mechanics In physics, physical information refers generally to the information that is contained in a physical system. Its usage in quantum mechanics In physics,...
  
  
• Limits to computation
  Limits to computation
  There are several physical and practical limits to the amount of computation or data storage that can be performed with a given amount of mass, volume, or energy:...
  
  
• Bremermann's limit
  Bremermann's limit
  Bremermann's Limit, named after Hans-Joachim Bremermann, is the maximum computational speed of a self-contained system in the material universe. It is derived from Einstein's mass-energy equivalency and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and is c2/h ≈ 1.36 × 1050 bits per second per...