The Thermodynamics of Quantum Computing

Establishing the thermodynamic cost of information manipulation led to Landauer's dictum, "information is physical," which motivates a thermodynamic perspective on quantum computing. This talk develops that perspective by treating algorithms, control, and measurement as physical processes with explicit energy and entropy budgets. We will discuss the thermodynamics of information spread in many-body processors, quantifying how scrambling and decoherence compete, and presenting bounds that connect mutual information growth to entropy production and heat flow in both closed and open settings. We will then quantify the energetic value of correlations by decomposing extractable work and free energy into contributions from classical correlations and genuinely quantum correlations, linking coherence to concrete tasks such as state preparation, reset, readout, and error correction. We further explain how redundant environmental records lead to classical state structures while dissipating quantum resources, clarifying when classical states emerge, endure, and at what energetic cost. Finally, we will outline design principles for energy-aware quantum architectures, including resource-efficient control protocols that leverage structured dissipation, and performance metrics that tie algorithmic advantage to power and heat. Together these results frame quantum computation as a flow of information governed by thermodynamic laws, illuminating fundamental limits and guiding scalable/robust implementations.