Stochastic Thermodynamics of Computing in Autonomous Mechanical Systems

Since the formulation of Landauer's limit for irreversible erasures, stochastic thermodynamics has provided novel insights in the thermodynamics of information processing, including the extension to thermodynamically reversible systems. However, current computers still exceed irreversible bounds by several orders of magnitude, and reversible approaches remain largely untested. Mechanical degrees of freedom (e.g. microresonators, colloidal particles) can be used to process information near thermodynamic limits, as has been shown in recent experiments using time-dependent trapping potentials. However, non-autonomous experiments omit energy required to break detailed balance and prescribe a sequential computation. Here, we theoretically investigate nanomechanical systems performing autonomous, thermal-noise limited computations based on realistic nonlinear elastic interactions. A harmonic oscillator, called 'power clock' stores the energy that prescribes an arrow of time and causes the computation to evolve forward.