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  1. Local fluctuations and local observers in equilibrium statistical mechanics.Itamar Pitowsky - 2001 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (4):595-607.
    The distribution function associated with a classical gas at equilibrium is considered. We prove that apart from a factorisable multiplier, the distribution function is fully determined by the correlations among local momenta fluctuations. Using this result we discuss the conditions which enable idealised local observers, who are immersed in the gas and form a part of it, to determine the distribution 'from within'. This analysis sheds light on two views on thermodynamic equilibrium, the 'ergodic' and the 'thermodynamic limit' schools, and (...)
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  • Local Fluctuations and Local Observers in Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics.Itamar Pitowsky - 2001 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (4):595-607.
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  • Waiting for Landauer.John D. Norton - 2011 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42 (3):184-198.
    Landauer's Principle asserts that there is an unavoidable cost in thermodynamic entropy creation when data is erased. It is usually derived from incorrect assumptions, most notably, that erasure must compress the phase space of a memory device or that thermodynamic entropy arises from the probabilistic uncertainty of random data. Recent work seeks to prove Landauer’s Principle without using these assumptions. I show that the processes assumed in the proof, and in the thermodynamics of computation more generally, can be combined to (...)
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  • Eaters of the lotus: Landauer's principle and the return of Maxwell's demon.John D. Norton - 2005 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36 (2):375-411.
    Landauer’s principle is the loosely formulated notion that the erasure of n bits of information must always incur a cost of k ln n in thermodynamic entropy. It can be formulated as a precise result in statistical mechanics, but for a restricted class of erasure processes that use a thermodynamically irreversible phase space expansion, which is the real origin of the law’s entropy cost and whose necessity has not been demonstrated. General arguments that purport to establish the unconditional validity of (...)
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  • Waiting.John D. Norton - unknown
    Landauer's Principle asserts that there is an unavoidable cost in thermodynamic entropy when data is erased. It is sometimes deduced from a version of the second law of thermodynamics or it is posited as a way of protecting the law from violation by a Maxwell's demon. Yet the standard processes assumed in the thermodynamics of computation can be combined to produce devices that both violate the second law and erase data without entropy cost, indicating an inconsistency in the standard system. (...)
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