title: Thermodynamics of statistical inference by cells.
abstract: The deep connection between thermodynamics, computation, and information is now well established both theoretically and experimentally. Here, we extend these ideas to show that thermodynamics also places fundamental constraints on statistical estimation and learning. To do so, we investigate the constraints placed by (nonequilibrium) thermodynamics on the ability of biochemical signaling networks to estimate the concentration of an external signal. We show that accuracy is limited by energy consumption, suggesting that there are fundamental thermodynamic constraints on statistical inference.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Alex H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Charles K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de physique statistique, CNRS, UPMC and École normale supérieure, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Pankaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: D001703:Biophysics; D002477:Cells / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface