Mixture of Gaussians perspective on the Landauer Bound

Landauer's bound states that succesful erasure of a bit of information results in an average dissipation of at least kTln 2. We analyze the effect of 'imperfections' on the minimum heat dissipation associated with a quasi static erasure of a bit of information. Two types of imperfections are considered - overlap between the two states which define a bit of memory and the asymmetry between the two states of a bit of memory. We conclude that, the two types of imperfections presented could lower the heat dissipation associated with erasure of a bit of information as compared to the Landauer's bound.