A non-equilibrium quantum Landauer principle

Abstract: Using the operational framework of completely positive, trace preserving operations and thermodynamic fluctuation relations, we derive a lower bound for the heat exchange in a Landauer erasure process on a quantum system. Our bound comes from a non-phenomenological derivation of the Landauer principle which holds for generic non-equilibrium dynamics. Furthermore the bound depends on the non-unitality of dynamics, giving it a physical significance that differs from other derivations. We apply our framework to the model of a spin-1/2 system coupled to an interacting spin chain at finite temperature.