A Thermodynamic Characterization of Ideal Physical Information Channels

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Abstract
The concept of an ideal physical information channel is introduced on the base of the entropy defect principle. It is shown that such a channel has the maximum capacity of all channels of the same physical nature. We consider an ideal channel with statistically independent additive noise, and prove that the information properties of any such channel may be determined using a thermodynamic characterization of physical systems that tranmit information. Brillouin's conjecture of minimum energy per unit of information is proved for tbis type of channels. Also considered is the question of the optimum distribution of energy among channels of this type.

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