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The physical roots, interpretation, controversies, and precise meaning of the Landauer principle are surveyed. The Landauer principle is a physical principle defining the lower theoretical limit of energy consumption necessary for computation. It states that an irreversible change in information stored in a computer, such as merging two computational paths, dissipates a minimum amount of heat kBTln2 per a bit of information to its surroundings. The Landauer principle is discussed in the context of fundamental physical limiting principles, such as the Abbe diffraction limit, the Margolus–Levitin limit, and the Bekenstein limit. Synthesis of the Landauer bound with the Abbe, Margolus–Levitin, and Bekenstein limits yields the minimal time of computation, which scales as τmin~hkBT. Decreasing the temperature of a thermal bath will decrease the energy consumption of a single computation, but in parallel, it will slow the computation. The Landauer principle bridges John Archibald Wheeler’s “it from bit” paradigm and thermodynamics. Experimental verifications of the Landauer principle are surveyed. The interrelation between thermodynamic and logical irreversibility is addressed. Generalization of the Landauer principle to quantum and non-equilibrium systems is addressed. The Landauer principle represents the powerful heuristic principle bridging physics, information theory, and computer engineering.

\"Thermodynamics is only physical theory of universal content, which I am convinced will never be overthrown, within the framework of applicability of its basic concepts [...].\"Thermodynamics is only physical theory of universal content, which I am convinced will never be overthrown, within the framework of applicability of its basic concepts [...].

The wetting of solid surfaces is treated. The Young and receding contact angles are experimentally unattainable values for the majority of solid surfaces. Actually, we always observe the apparent contact angle. This makes the characterization of wetting of real surfaces problematic. It is proposed in this paper to characterize wetting of real surfaces with the advancing contact angle and the minimum work of adhesion calculated according to the Dupre equation. The advancing contact angle, which depends slightly on the experimental technique used for its measurement, corresponds to the maximal solid/liquid surface tension and correspondingly to the minimal work of adhesion, calculated according to the Dupre equation.

The Landauer principle quantifies the thermodynamic cost of the recording/erasure of one bit of information, as it was stated by its author: “information is physical” and it has an energy equivalent. In its narrow sense, the Landauer principle states that the erasure of one bit of information requires a minimum energy cost equal to kBT ln2, where T is the temperature of a thermal reservoir used in the process and k B is Boltzmann’s constant. The Landauer principle remains highly debatable. It has been argued that, since it is not independent of the second law of thermodynamics, it is either unnecessary or insufficient as an exorcism of Maxwell’s demon. On the other hand, the Landauer principle enables the “informational” reformulation of thermodynamic laws. Thus, the Landauer principle touches the deepest physical roots of thermodynamics. Authors are invited to contribute papers devoted to the meaning, interpretation, physical roots, experimental verification and applications of the Landauer principle. Papers devoted to the quantum and relativity aspects of the Landauer principle are encouraged.

The review is devoted to the physical, chemical, and technological aspects of the breath-figure self-assembly process. The main stages of the process and impact of the polymer architecture and physical parameters of breath-figure self-assembly on the eventual pattern are covered. The review is focused on the hierarchy of spatial and temporal scales inherent to breath-figure self-assembly. Multi-scale patterns arising from the process are addressed. The characteristic spatial lateral scales of patterns vary from nanometers to dozens of micrometers. The temporal scale of the process spans from microseconds to seconds. The qualitative analysis performed in the paper demonstrates that the process is mainly governed by interfacial phenomena, whereas the impact of inertia and gravity are negligible. Characterization and applications of polymer films manufactured with breath-figure self-assembly are discussed.

Physical roots, exemplifications and consequences of periodic and aperiodic ordering (represented by Fibonacci series) in biological systems are discussed. The physical and biological roots and role of symmetry and asymmetry appearing in biological patterns are addressed. A generalization of the Curie–Neumann principle as applied to biological objects is presented, briefly summarized as: “asymmetry is what creates a biological phenomenon”. The “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches to the explanation of symmetry in organisms are presented and discussed in detail. The “top-down” approach implies that the symmetry of the biological structure follows the symmetry of the media in which this structure is functioning; the “bottom-up” approach, in turn, accepts that the symmetry of biological structures emerges from the symmetry of molecules constituting the structure. A diversity of mathematical measures applicable for quantification of order in biological patterns is introduced. The continuous, Shannon and Voronoi measures of symmetry/ordering and their application to biological objects are addressed. The fine structure of the notion of “order” is discussed. Informational/algorithmic roots of order inherent in the biological systems are considered. Ordered/symmetrical patterns provide an economy of biological information, necessary for the algorithmic description of a biological entity. The application of the Landauer principle bridging physics and theory of information to the biological systems is discussed.

The second part of this paper develops an approach suggested in Entropy 2020, 22(1), 11; which relates ordering in physical systems to symmetrizing. Entropy is frequently interpreted as a quantitative measure of “chaos” or “disorder”. However, the notions of “chaos” and “disorder” are vague and subjective, to a great extent. This leads to numerous misinterpretations of entropy. We propose that the disorder is viewed as an absence of symmetry and identify “ordering” with symmetrizing of a physical system; in other words, introducing the elements of symmetry into an initially disordered physical system. We explore the initially disordered system of elementary magnets exerted to the external magnetic field H → . Imposing symmetry restrictions diminishes the entropy of the system and decreases its temperature. The general case of the system of elementary magnets demonstrating j-fold symmetry is studied. The T j = T j interrelation takes place, where T and T j are the temperatures of non-symmetrized and j-fold-symmetrized systems of the magnets, correspondingly.

A temperature dependent entropic force acting between the straight direct current I and the linear system (string with length of L) of N elementary non-interacting magnets/spins μ→ is reported. The system of elementary magnets is supposed to be in the thermal equilibrium with the infinite thermal bath T. The entropic force at large distance from the current scales as Fmagnen~1r3, where r is the distance between the edge of the string and the current I, and kB is the Boltzmann constant; (r≫L is adopted). The entropic magnetic force is the repulsion force. The entropic magnetic force scales as Fmagnen~1T, which is unusual for entropic forces. The effect of “entropic pressure” is predicted for the situation when the source of the magnetic field is embedded into the continuous media, comprising elementary magnets/spins. Interrelation between bulk and entropy magnetic forces is analyzed. Entropy forces acting on the 1D string of elementary magnets that exposed the magnetic field produced by the magnetic dipole are addressed.

We applied the Ramsey analysis to the sets of points belonging to Riemannian manifolds. The points are connected with two kinds of lines: geodesic and non-geodesic. This interconnection between the points is mapped into the bi-colored, complete Ramsey graph. The selected points correspond to the vertices of the graph, which are connected with the bi-colored links. The complete bi-colored graph containing six vertices inevitably contains at least one mono-colored triangle; hence, a mono-colored triangle, built of the green or red links, i.e., non-geodesic or geodesic lines, consequently appears in the graph. We also considered the bi-colored, complete Ramsey graphs emerging from the intersection of two Riemannian manifolds. Two Riemannian manifolds, namely (M1,g1) and (M2,g2), represented by the Riemann surfaces which intersect along the curve (M1,g1)∩(M2,g2)=ℒ were addressed. Curve ℒ does not contain geodesic lines in either of the manifolds (M1,g1) and (M2,g2). Consider six points located on the ℒ: 1,…6⊂ℒ. The points 1,…6⊂ℒ are connected with two distinguishable kinds of the geodesic lines, namely with the geodesic lines belonging to the Riemannian manifold (M1,g1)/red links, and, alternatively, with the geodesic lines belonging to the manifold (M2,g2)/green links. Points 1,…6⊂ℒ form the vertices of the complete graph, connected with two kinds of links. The emerging graph contains at least one closed geodesic line. The extension of the theorem to the Riemann surfaces of various Euler characteristics is presented.