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Summary: QPL 2006
From reversible to irreversible computations
Alexander S. Green 1,2
Computer Science and IT
The University of Nottingham
Nottingham, UK
Thorsten Altenkirch 3
Computer Science and IT
The University of Nottingham
Nottingham, UK
Abstract
In this paper we study the relation between reversible and irreversible computation
applicable to different models of computation -- here we are considering classical
and quantum computation.
Abstract models of computation like calculus or more abstractly Cartesian
closed categories are based on irreversible processes, indeed Cartesian products in-
troduce projections which are irreversible. In contrast, in Physics the more funda-
mental notions describe processes in closed systems where every action is reversible,
i.e. Newtonian Mechanics, Maxwellian electrodynamics and quantum mechanics fit
into this pattern. Open systems, which allow irreversible processes, are a derived
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