The Physics of Computing

This book presents a self-contained introduction to the physics of computing, by addressing the fundamental underlying principles that involve the act of computing, regardless of the actual machine that is used to compute. Questions like what is the minimum energy required to perform a computation?, what is the ultimate computational speed that a computer can achieve? or how long can a memory last, are addressed here, starting from basic physics principles.

The book is intended for physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, and it is designed for self-study by researchers who want to enter the field or as the main text for a one semester course at advanced undergraduate or graduate level. The theoretical concepts presented in this book are systematically developed from the very beginning, which only requires basic knowledge in physics and mathematics.

Professor Luca Gammaitoni presents 35 year-long research activities in a wide range of topics in different fields, having as a common denominator the physics of noise and fluctuations. He was awarded the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the observation of gravitational waves. His papers have been cited more than 70.000 times.

He is a successful teacher ranked no.1 among the physicists in 2010, 2012, and 2013 at the University of Perugia. He has inspired more than one generation of students, being the advisor of 15 Tesi di laurea (Master Thesis) and 10 (Ph.D. Thesis) and serving as an expert for the EC (ICT-FET, MSCA, 2008-2020). He has established a world recognized group in Perugia that in 2007 has officially become an institution: the Noise in Physical Systems Laboratory (NiPS) He has also started an International Summer School with regular courses each year (2010-2021). Moreover in 2007, he has started a high-tech spin-off company (Wisepower srl) devoted to micro-scale energy transformation devices. He has been active in promoting the communication of science in the last 20 years, with many magazine articles, national radio and TV interviews, a number of participation as organizer/guest to Science Festival, science cafè, public debates, and round tables (see youtube channel: nipslab).

Introduction.- Computing with machines.- The physics of digital computing.- What is friction?.- The physics of small scale switches.- Fundamental energy limits in computation.- Storing data.- What about information?.- What about analog computing?.- Conclusion.