Information erasure in copolymers

Abstract

Information erasure at the molecular scale during the depolymerization of copolymers is shown to require a minimum entropy production in accordance with Landauer's principle and as a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics. This general result is illustrated with an exactly solvable model of copolymerization, which also shows that the minimum entropy production that is possible for a specific molecular mechanism of depolymerization may be larger than the minimum required by Landauer's principle.