The thermodynamic freedom of a thermodynamic computer

[2608.27938] The thermodynamic freedom of a thermodynamic computer Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Condensed Matter > Statistical Mechanics arXiv:2608.27938 (cond-mat) [Submitted on 28 Aug 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 17 Sep 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: The thermodynamic freedom of a thermodynamic computer Authors: Stephen Whitelam View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Thermodynamic computers are stochastic physical devices designed to perform calculations at the thermal energy scale. Their operation is constrained by the equations of stochastic thermodynamics, among which are a set of bounds, known as speed limits, that relate a thermodynamic computer's run time to its computational progress and the heat it dissipates. Using the Wasserstein speed limit we assess the thermodynamic efficiency of a simulation model of a thermodynamic computer trained to perform a standard machine-learning classification task. On this task the thermodynamic computer is as capable as a simple multilayer perceptron. We show that different inference protocols allow the computer to operate within 40\% of the thermodynamic limit of efficiency without loss of accuracy, or to perform inference increasingly rapidly at fixed accuracy and thermodynamic efficiency. These results indicate that a thermodynamic computer designed for a particular task retains considerable freedom in its thermodynamic operation. Subjects: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) ; Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE) Cite as: arXiv:2608.27938 [cond-mat.stat-mech] (or arXiv:2608.27938v2 [cond-mat.stat-mech] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.27938 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Stephen Whitelam [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 28 Aug 2026 05:27:01 UTC (944 KB) [v2] Thu, 17 Sep 2026 17:21:22 UTC (944 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: cond-mat.stat-mech < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: cond-mat cs cs.NE References & Citations SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

Related documents

• The thermodynamic freedom of a thermodynamic computer#779841
• Clausius Inequality in Classical Thermodynamics#204207
• Evolutionary design of thermodynamic logic gates and their heat emission#821788
• An Introduction to Computational Thermodynamics : Phase Equilibrium and Equations of State / by Brian R. Greenhalgh#683476
• A quantum thermal machine surpassing the classical thermodynamic limit on precision#1132350