Title :
Does information have mass? [Point of View]
Author :
Kish, L.B. ; Granqvist, C.L.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX, USA
Abstract :
This article addresses the fundamental question of minimum mass related to a bit of information from the angles of quantum physics and special relativity. The results indicate that there are different answers depending on the physical situation, and sometimes the mass can even be negative. It tends to be skeptical about the earlier mass estimations, mentioned above, because the results indicate that the electron´s mass does not play a role in any one of them. Finally, in a seemingly related but actually different and independent context of measured inaccuracies of the gravitation constant, it refers to experiments on the weight transient of memory devices after information writing and erasure.
Keywords :
gravitational constant; quantum theory; special relativity; gravitation constant; information erasure; information writing; mass estimations; memory devices; minimum information mass; physical situation; quantum physics; special relativity; weight transient; Iinformation representation; Information exchange; Information processing; Information theory;
Journal_Title :
Proceedings of the IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JPROC.2013.2273720