arXiv:quant-ph/9710043quant-ph
The maximum speed of dynamical evolution
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Abstract
We discuss the problem of counting the maximum number of distinct states that an isolated physical system can pass through in a given period of time---its maximum speed of dynamical evolution. Previous analyses have given bounds in terms of the standard deviation of the energy of the system; here we give a strict bound that depends only on E-E0, the system's average energy minus its ground state energy. We also discuss bounds on information processing rates implied by our bound on the speed of dynamical evolution. For example, adding one Joule of energy to a given computer can never increase its processing rate by more than about 3x10^33 operations per second.
There is another more fundamental limit, credited to Margolus and Levitin [1], which puts the maximum speed of a (quantum) gate at 2E / h operations per second for a system of energy E and Planck constant h. Given the energy of the sun quoted in the article, this puts the upper…
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