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Quantum computers will transform our world, curing cancer and fixing the climate crisis, says the scientist and sci-fi fan but can they be made to work?

Sat 22 Apr 2023 04.00 EDT

Have you been feeling anxious about technology lately? If so, youre in good company. The United Nations has urged all governments to implement a set of rules designed to rein in artificial intelligence. An open letter, signed by such luminaries as Yuval Noah Harari and Elon Musk, called for research into the most advanced AI to be paused and measures taken to ensure it remains safe trustworthy, and loyal. These pangs followed the launch last year of ChatGPT, a chatbot that can write you an essay on Milton as easily as it can generate a recipe for everything you happen to have in your cupboard that evening.

But what if the computers used to develop AI were replaced by ones able to make calculations not millions, but trillions of times faster? What if tasks that might take thousands of years to perform on todays devices could be completed in a matter of seconds? Well, thats precisely the future that physicist Michio Kaku is predicting. He believes we are about to leave the digital age behind for a quantum era that will bring unimaginable scientific and societal change. Computers will no longer use transistors, but subatomic particles, to make calculations, unleashing incredible processing power. Another physicist has likened it to putting a rocket engine in your car. How are you feeling now?

Kaku seems pretty relaxed about it all some might say boosterish. He talks to me via Zoom from his apartment on Manhattans Upper West Side. Seventy-six and retired from research, he still teaches at the City University of New York where he is professor of theoretical physics and gets to do the fun stuff. A fan of Isaac Asimov, he tells me that hes currently teaching a course on the physics of science fiction. I talk about what is known and not known about time travel, space warps, the multiverse, all the things you see in Marvel Comics, I break it down. His website describes him as a futurist and populariser of science and his new book, Quantum Supremacy, sketches out all the promise of quantum computing and very little of the downside. Though he has the long white hair of the stereotypical mad scientist, it is swept back elegantly. He speaks at the pace of a practised lecturer, with the occasional outbreak of mild bemusement pitching his voice a little higher.

Kaku has a simple explanation for the doom-mongering around ChatGPT: Journalists are hyperventilating about chatbots because they see that their job is on the line. Many jobs have been on the line historically, but no one really said much about them. Now, journalists are right there in the crosshairs. This is a somewhat partial view a report by Goldman Sachs recently estimated that 300m jobs are at risk of automation as a result of AI. Kaku does admit that we might see sentient machines emerging from laboratories but reckons that could take another hundred years or so. In the meantime, he thinks theres a lot to feel good about.

The rocket engine of quantum computing will, Kaku says, completely transform research in chemistry, biology and physics, with all sorts of knock-on effects. Among other things, it will enable us to take CO2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into fuel, with the waste products captured and used again so-called carbon recycling. It will help us extract nitrogen from the air without the high temperatures and pressures that mean fertiliser production currently accounts for 2% of the energy used on Earth, leading to a new green revolution. It will allow us to create super-efficient batteries to help renewables go further (todays lithium-ion batteries only carry about 1% of the energy stored in gasoline). It will solve the design and engineering challenges currently stopping us from generating cheap, abundant power via nuclear fusion. And it will lead to radically effective treatments for cancer, Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases, alongside a host of others.

How? The main thing to understand is that quantum computers can make calculations much, much faster than digital ones. They do this using qubits, the quantum equivalent of bits the zeros and ones that convey information in a conventional computer. Whereas bits are stored as electrical charges in transistors etched on to silicon chips, qubits are represented by properties of particles, for example, the angular momentum of an electron. Qubits superior firepower comes about because the laws of classical physics do not apply in the strange subatomic world, allowing them to take any value between zero and one, and enabling a mysterious process called quantum entanglement, which Einstein famously called spukhafte Fernwirkung or spooky action at a distance. Kaku makes valiant efforts to explain these mechanisms in his book, but its essentially impossible for a layperson to fully grasp. As the science communicator Sabine Hossenfelder puts it in one of her wildly popular YouTube videos on the subject: When we write about quantum mechanics, were faced with the task of converting mathematical expressions into language. And regardless of which language we use, English, German, Chinese or whatever, our language didnt evolve to describe quantum behaviour.

What were left with are analogies of varying helpfulness, for example the toy trains with compasses on them and mice in mazes that Kaku invokes to explain such complex ideas as superposition and path integrals. Beyond these, there is one important takeaway: reality is quantum, and so quantum computers can simulate it in a way that digital ones struggle to. Mother Nature does not compute digitally, he tells me. Quantum computers should [be able to] unravel the secrets of life, the secrets of the universe, the secrets of matter, because the language of nature is the quantum principle. If you want to know precisely how photosynthesis works (still a mystery to modern science), or how one protein interacts with another in the human body, you will be able to use the virtual lab of a quantum computer to model it precisely. Designing medicines to interrupt biological processes gone awry, like the proliferation of cancer cells or the misfolding of proteins in Alzheimers disease, could become much easier. Kaku even reckons that the riddle of ageing will be unravelled so that we can arrest it one of the chapters in his book is called simply Immortality.

At this stage, its worth introducing an important caveat. Quantum computers are very, very hard to make. Because they rely on tiny particles that are extremely sensitive to any kind of disturbance, most can only run at temperatures close to absolute zero, where everything slows down and theres minimal environmental noise. That is, as you would expect, quite difficult to arrange. So far, the most advanced quantum computer in the world, IBMs Osprey, has 433 qubits. This might not sound like much, but as the company points out the number of classical bits that would be necessary to represent a state on the Osprey processor far exceeds the total number of atoms in the known universe. What they dont say is that it only works for about 70 to 80 millionths of a second before being overwhelmed by noise. Not only that, but the calculations it can make have very limited applications. As Kaku himself notes: A workable quantum computer that can solve real-world problems is still many years in the future. Some physicists, such as Mikhail Dyakonov at the University of Montpellier, believe the technical challenges mean the chances of a quantum computer that could compete with your laptop ever being built are pretty much zero.

Kaku brushes this off. He points to the billions of dollars being poured into quantum research the Gold Rush is on he says and the way intelligence agencies have been warning about the need to get quantum-ready. Thats hardly proof positive theyll live up to expectations it could be tulip mania rather than a gold rush. He shrugs: Lifes a gamble.

In any case, hes far from the only true believer. Corporations such as IBM, Google, Microsoft and Intel are investing heavily in the technology, as is the Chinese government, which has developed a 113 qubit computer called Jiuzhang. So, assuming for a moment quantum dreams do become a reality: is it responsible to accentuate the positive, as Kaku does? What about the possibility of these immense capabilities being used for ill?

Well, thats the universal law of technology, that [it] can be used for good or evil. When humans discovered the bow and arrow, we could use that to bring down game and feed people in our tribe. But of course, the bow and arrow can also be used against our enemies.

Advances in physics, in particular, have always raised the prospect of new and more fearsome weapons. But you cant hold back research as a result: you make the discoveries, then you deal with the consequences. Thats why we regulate nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are a rather simple consequence of Einsteins E=mc2. And they have to be regulated, because the E would be enough to destroy humanity on planet Earth. At some point, were going to reach the boundaries of this technology, where it impacts negatively on society. Right now, I can see a lot of benefits.

In any case, for Kaku, knowledge is power. Its part of the reason hes moved from the lab to TV, radio and books. The whole purpose of writing books for the public is so that [they] can make educated, reasonable, wise decisions about the future of technology. Once technology becomes so complicated that the average person cannot grasp it, then theres big trouble, because then people with no moral compass will be in charge of the direction of that technology.

There are other reasons, as well. From an early age, Kaku was, unsurprisingly, a science fiction nut. But he wasnt content to simply swallow the stories, and wanted to know if they were really possible, whether the laws of physics might verify or contradict them. And in the science section, there was nothing, absolutely nothing. And I was [also] fascinated by Einsteins dream of a theory of everything, a unified field theory. Again I found nothing, not a single book, on Einsteins great dream. And I said to myself, when I grow up, and I become a theoretical physicist, I want to write papers on this subject. But I also want to write for myself as a child, going to the library and being so frustrated that there was nothing for me to read. And thats what I do.

Kakus parents were among those American citizens of Japanese descent who were interned during the second world war, despite having been born in the country. Like his father, he was raised in Palo Alto, California, the ground zero of the tech revolution. The irony isnt lost on him. I saw Silicon Valley grow from nothing. When I was a child, it was all alfalfa fields, apple orchards. I used to play in the apple orchards of what is now Apple, he chuckles. If his predictions about the quantum revolution are correct, it could soon be transformed again. Silicon Valley could become a rust belt a junkyard of chips that no one uses any more because theyre too primitive. Or, more likely, a gleaming new centre of quantum computation, as todays tech giants scramble to redeploy their immense intellectual and financial capital. Whether Kakus quantum revolution lives up to the hype remains to be seen. But if he is right and all that is digital passes into dust, were in for one hell of a ride.

Quantum Supremacy by Michio Kaku will be published by Allen Lane on 2 May. To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com

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Physicist Michio Kaku: We could unravel the secrets of the universe - The Guardian

GoIs seed fund of Rs 6,000cr ($730m) for the National Quantum Mission (NQM) for 2023-24 through 2030-31 is a fillip to R&D in quantum tech, whose applications are in multiple stages of experimentation and prototypes globally. It is a quirk of quantum computing that for India to prioritise $730 million for the mission is an expensive call, yet for the field of study, a modest fund. In the elite club of six with public-funded quantum initiatives, China has allocated $15. 3 billion (2021-2025), EU $7. 2 billion and the US $1. 2 billion. China also has the largest share of patents in quantum tech.

It is a measure of the mind-bending nature of quantum that the ground-breaking research of 1970s and 1980s into the phenomenon of entanglement, the heart of quantum science, was recognised with a Physics Nobel only in 2022. The Laureates had shown that entangled particles (physically apart yet linked) can ferry information over massive distances. This has far-reaching implications for quantum communications tech (QCT), of key strategic significance to India and one of the four verticals for the missions R&D. QCT allows a country to secure its critical infrastructure with quantum cryptography to make it unhackable.

Conventional data networks are putty in the face of quantum computing if the latter is applied to organise a cyberattack.Challenges to build quantum infra are formidable. The first step is for public-funded research institutes to collaborate with startups and firms to develop the initial intermediate-sized supercomputers. At present, India only has a basic quantum computer Qsim that allows researchers to simulate quantum computation. Hardware aside, talent gap is a bottleneck. In 2021, for 290 quantum tech masters grads globally, there were 851 jobs. Barely 16% of the worlds universities offer degrees in the field. This is the ecosystem India is entering. Yet GoIs commitment to fundamental science and endeavour is a great beginning. NQM could not have come a day sooner. QED.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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Quantum Jump: GoI does well to fund R&D in computings next revolution - Times of India

(Source Shutterstock)

The last few years have been spectacular for International Business Machines Corp (IBM) regarding quantum computing. Not only has the tech giant done a lot of work around the revolutionary technology, but it is also considered one of the pioneers in the field of quantum computing.

Although quantum computing remains a complicated field with lots of nuance and subtlety about the significance of qubits, noise, endurance, and scalability, the pace of innovation by IBM continues to accelerate where its transitioning from scientific exploration to practical reality.

IBMsroadmapis a clear, detailed plan to scale quantum processors, overcome the scaling problem, and build the hardware necessary for quantum advantage. It started in 2016 when IBMput the first quantum computer in the cloudfor anyone to experiment witha device with five qubits, each a superconducting circuit cooled to near zero.

By 2019, the company created the 27-qubit Falcon, followed by the 65-qubit Hummingbird in 2020 and the 127-qubitEaglein 2021, the first quantum processor with more than 100 qubits. IBM then upped its ante last year when it launched the Osprey quantum processor, featuring 433 qubits, themost powerful quantum processor in the world yet.

Thats not it. This year, the tech giant is set to unveil IBM Condor, the worlds first universal quantum computer with more than 1,000 qubits. Based on its roadmap, IBM will also be launching Heron, the first of a new flock of modular quantum processors that the company says may help it produce quantum computers with more than 4,000 qubits by 2025.

In between, IBMsquantum roadmapessentially consists of two additional stages the 1,121-qubit Condor and 1,386-qubit Flamingo processors in 2023 and 2024, respectively before it plans to hit the 4,000-qubit stage with its Kookaburra processor in 2025.

These processors push the limits of what can be done with single chip processors andcontrolling large systems, IBM said in itsquantum roadmap. So far, the company has generally made this roadmap work. Still, the number of qubits in a quantum computer is only one part of a vast and complex puzzle, with longer coherence times and reduced noisejust as important.

IBMs senior VP and research director Daro Gi claims the new 433 qubits Osprey processor brings the company closer to the point where a quantum computer will be usedto tackle previously unsolvable problems.

IBM has also released a beta update to Qiskit Runtime, allowing users to trade speed for reduced error count with a simple option in the API. By abstracting the complexities of these features into the software layer, it will make it easier for users to incorporate quantum computing into their workflows and speed up the development of quantum applications, the statement reads.

IBM also detailed its Quantum System Two last year basically, IBMs quantum mainframe that will be able to house multiple quantum processors and integrate them into a single system with high-speed communication links. The idea is to launch this system by the end of 2023, when it is a building block of quantum-centric supercomputing.

IBM has got big plans for quantum computing (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)

Essentially, quantum and other advanced computing technologies will help researchers tackle historic scientific bottlenecks and potentially find new treatments for patients with severe diseases like cancer, Alzheimers, and diabetes.

Last month, IBM made another quantum computing leap when unveiled IBM Quantum System One. Installed at Cleveland Clinic in the US, it is the first quantum computer in the world to be uniquely dedicated to healthcare research to help Cleveland Clinic accelerate biomedical discoveries.

Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanicsto solve problemsthat todays most powerful supercomputers cannot practically solve. The ability to tap into these new computational spaces could help researchers identify new medicines and treatments more quickly, IBM said in aMarch 20 statement.

By combining the power of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and other next-generation technologies with Cleveland Clinics world-renowned leadership in healthcare and life sciences, we hope to ignite anew era of accelerated discovery, Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and CEO, said.

In addition to quantum computing, through the Cleveland Clinic-IBM Discovery Accelerator, a variety of IBMs latest technological advancements was drawn upon, including high-performance computing via the hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence.

Researchers from both organizations are collaborating closely on a robust portfolio of projects with these advanced technologies to generate and analyze massive amounts of data to enhance research, IBM noted.

Going beyond single-chip processors is the key to solving scale for IBM. In 2023, the company plans to introduce classical parallelized quantum computing with multiple Heron processors connected by a single control system. In 2024, we will debut Crossbill, the first single processor made from multiple chips.

The same year will also unveil our Flamingo processor. This remarkable processor will incorporate quantum communication links, allowing us to demonstrate a quantum system comprising three Flamingo processors totaling 1,386 qubits, it said.

By 2025, IBM will combine multi-chip processors and quantum communication technologies to create its Kookaburra processor. This will demonstrate a quantum system of three Kookaburra processors, totaling 4,158 qubits. Thisleap forwardwill usher in a new era of scaling, providing a clear path to 100,000 qubits and beyond, it added.

Dashveenjit Kaur| @DashveenjitK

Dashveen writes for Tech Wire Asia and TechHQ, providing research-based commentary on the exciting world of technology in business. Previously, she reported on the ground of Malaysia's fast-paced political arena and stock market.

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Here's why IBM is leading in quantum computing - Tech Wire Asia

Enterprises can take advantage of D-Waves newly published optimization improvement through a hardware-sharing cloud service.

One of the challenges in quantum computing is overcoming 3D spin-glass optimization limitations, which can slow down quantum simulation meant to solve real-world optimization problems. An experimental solution is D-Waves Advantage quantum computer, running spin-glass dynamics (essentially a sequence of magnets) on 5,000 qubits.

According to a study by scientists from D-Wave and Boston University, published in the journal Nature, the team has validated that quantum annealing a mathematical process used to find low-energy states by using quantum fluctuations can improve solution quality faster than classical algorithms, at least theoretically. It may be a key step forward in showing the ways in which a quantum processor can compute coherent quantum dynamics in large-scale optimization problems.

D-Wave customers who subscribe to the Leap quantum cloud service can access the new commercial-grade, annealing-based quantum computer as of April 19.

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The main takeaway for enterprises is that spin-glass computing on a quantum annealing device may eventually be able to efficiently solve optimization problems, achieving a goal with as little energy as possible. For example, it could be a relatively efficient way to answer questions such as Should I ship this package on this truck or the next one? or the traveling salesman problem (What is the most efficient route a traveling salesperson should take to visit different cities?), as D-Wave wrote.

D-Wave is one of the only companies that offers enterprise quantum computing space with both gate and annealing programs, which now includes its 5,000 qubit, commercial-grade Advantage quantum computer. There is still some question as to how practical this technology is, but the new paper is proof that further commercial quantum computing optimization can be performed on D-Waves hardware.

SEE: Should IT teams factor quantum computing into their decisions?

Getting deeper into the physics, spin glasses are often used as test beds for paradigmatic computing, the researchers said, but using this approach in a programmable system and therefore one that can be used to do practical calculations still leads to potential problems. D-Wave has solved this on its hardware by using quantum-critical spin-glass dynamics on thousands of qubits with a superconducting quantum annealer.

The same hardware that has already provided useful experimental proving ground for quantum critical dynamics can be also employed to seek low-energy states that assist in finding solutions to optimization problems, said Wojciech Zurek, theoretical physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and leading authority on quantum theory, in D-Waves press release.

Applications that solve optimization problems like the packaging shipping question above require a minimum energy state from the quantum annealing processors they run on. Other calculations that could be used for decision-making, such as probabilistic sampling problems, need good low-energy samples in order to run.

D-Wave says spin glasses can be brought into low-energy states faster by annealing quantum fluctuations than by conventional thermal annealing.

This paper gives evidence that the quantum dynamics of a dedicated hardware platform are faster than for known classical algorithms to find the preferred, lowest energy state of a spin glass, and so promises to continue to fuel the further development of quantum annealers for dealing with practical problems, said Gabriel Aeppli, professor of physics at ETH Zrich and EPF Lausanne, and head of the Photon Science Division of the Paul Scherrer Institut.

Another problem researchers in the quantum computing world are trying to solve is qubit coherence. In a simplified sense, coherence means that a quantum state maintains certain physical qualities while in use. Research shows that coherent quantum annealing can improve solution quality faster than classical algorithms.

Hand-in-hand development of the gate and annealing programs will bring us to longer coherence times and better qubit parameters, allowing our advantage over classical optimization to grow, Andrew King, director of performance research for D-Wave, wrote in a blog post.

While the newly published research was conducted on the currently commercially available Advantage quantum computer, D-Wave is also working on its next iteration. The Advantage2 system is in the experimental prototype stage and will be D-Waves sixth-generation quantum computing hardware. D-Wave anticipates the full Advantage2 system will launch with 7,000 qubits and does not have a projected release date for the alpha version.

The rest is here:

Quantum computing gets hardware boost with spin glass breakthrough - TechRepublic

By Andre Sariva, Diraq

A Quantum Computing event on the 3rd of April (see footage here) marked the launch of the first two whitepapers about Quantum Technologies commissioned by Standards Australia, a non-governmental not-for-profit organisation, similar to the American ANSI or the European IEC. They were on the topics of Quantum Computing (which is available in full form) and Quantum Communications (only the executive summary is available at the moment). These are fantastic, authoritative reads, and two more reports are planned for later release.

At the launch event, a number of very interesting points were raised about the sustainability of quantum computing research and the role of standardisation.

To set the context it is important to visualise what is the state of quantum technologies in 2023. Australia has had commercial endeavours in quantum communications and quantum sensing now for decades. Moreover, it is home to some of the world-leading quantum computing hardware developers, such as Silicon Quantum Computing, Quantum Brilliance and Diraq. Standards play a very different role in these scenarios the concept of quantum advantage in sensing and communications is well understood and testable with current technology, while it remains elusive and theoretical in quantum computing.

A natural question was then posed to the panel of experts that was invited to the event (including yours truly): could it be too early to set standards in such a nascent field with such a distant horizon for practical commercial applications?

The unanimous view of experts in the room, both quantum scientists and policy makers, was that the standardisation of terminology in quantum technology should have happened sooner. Standards are an instrument for supporting governments and corporations to guarantee that their investments are protected by conventions that remove any technical lack of clarity, an urgent need in the case of the quantum market. For instance, it will be one of the main tools for surviving a potential quantum winter.

The world is becoming increasingly aware that fast-grab quantum advantage with small NISQ algorithms might not happen. The only mathematically provable advantageous algorithms developed so far rely on multimillion qubit processors that can operate fault-tolerantly, or at least with qubits that can tolerate deeper circuits and perform calculations much faster than the current ones. The endeavour to build such a machine is as much a scientific challenge as a financial one. Disillusioned investors that were expecting more immediate returns will abandon the scene, elevating the bar for quantum companies to unlock the needed investments from either governments or private investors with deep enough pockets and flexible investment mandates.

In such a world of less abundance, serious companies can only differentiate themselves if well-defined standards of quality are in place. Moreover, taxpayer money will need to be invested with some serious regard to verifiability of claims and standardised validation of quantum operations. Finally, investors will need metrics for gauging progress in the long valley between the initial blueprints that they signed up for and the actual finalised product.

The problem can be as simple as defining the word qubit. For most scientists, there is no controversy about what the world means. However, there are a number of technologies that elude the standard paradigm of a two-level system with a set of calibrated operations, initialisation and readout. Examples include adiabatic/annealing quantum computing, continuous variables and quantum simulation. In these cases, the use (and, in some cases, abuse) of the use of the term qubit can lead to disparities between what different vendors offer. If a government body starts a tender process for a 100-qubit quantum computer, it is important that those 100 qubits are actually doing what is intended for them to do with a minimum certified fidelity.

Early efforts to determine such standards were self-organised by academics. The field of Quantum Computing Verification and Validation (QCVV) constitutes a vibrant crowd at any scientific conference. However, counting on individuals to do this job is bound to become a problem in the longer run. These volunteers are only efficient gatekeepers if they remain unbiased and agnostic to any particular commercial exploration. But in a world where a huge talent gap exists, the economic pressure to enlist scientists in quantum startups is slowly emptying the rooms of the truly independent QCVV experts.

Some efforts for independent certification as a service have been created. Quantum Benchmark is a former Canadian startup (which is now part of Keysights portfolio) doing precisely that. But it has so far been mostly a spontaneous initiative from hardware makers to gain their seal of approval, rather than a public policy of requiring independent certification. Ultimately, the matter is only meaningful if national standardisation bodies, such as Standards Australia, have frameworks in place to regulate what metrics should be used when discussing a target performance for quantum processors.

There is one current draft International Standard under the Information Technology family of standards led by the joint technical committee (JTC 1) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The ongoing draft is accepting comments at the moment. This document only scratched the surface trying to merely define vocabulary and terminology in the field. This very simple example already highlights the difficulties and commercial frictions generated by simple terms such as qubits, quantum processors and others.

Most standards organisations are still in a very early road-mapping/white paper stage. Here are some examples:

Independence/Impartiality

With the boom in the quantum industry, finding unbiased experts with enough influence in this field to write a widely respected and adopted set of standards is becoming increasingly difficult. Governments must include in their quantum initiatives some money to sustain an independent group of academics, which can consult with industry, but that ultimately are economically independent and able to provide standardisation driven by science, and not by commercial interests.

Deliberativeness

There is a geopolitical pressure for nations to lead the establishment of standards. However, the field is only nascent and the quantum market is only sustainable when seen at a global scale. We therefore must make sure that standardisation efforts do their best to consult across countries, including countries with less developed quantum industries but with the potential to mediate unbiased discussions and ultimately with the capability to represent the views of future consumers of such technologies.

Moreover, it is important that within each country, input to standards is taken from a balanced representation of industry, academics, stakeholders and the general public.

Legitimacy

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in assembling a set of experts that have respected opinions, remain unbiased by commercial interests, have clout to make bold standards that might not benefit some commercial entities (especially those with loose scientific standards) and are willing to spend the significant effort needed to concoct such documents. A quick scan in lists of names worldwide involved in quantum standardisation reveals very few household names, which creates worries about the willingness of the community to embrace such standards in the longer run. This creates a vulnerability for the effort of creating a truly unbiased, international set of standards.

The follow up really is on all of us, the people who care about quantum computing.

Firstly, we need a strong sense among providers and consumers of the value of standardisation. A standardisation effort backed by experts and representative of every serious quantum effort is key. Standards are only as useful as their adoption among companies and users. Perhaps this could be an early target for the newly established International Council of Quantum Industry Associations. It is clear that the level of international awareness about the need for immediate action is not yet quite there.

Another important step is to make sure that the people responsible for procuring quantum computing services and hardware are aware of these subtleties and capable of finding the appropriate support. Most tenders dont involve the technical complexity of quantum computing, so it will be rare to find a procurement system in place that is ready for this type of complexity.

Finally, governments need to step in and fund independent bodies that can guarantee that some experts remain unbiased and capable of providing the oversight needed to guarantee that narratives do not dominate over scientific facts.

Dr. Saraiva has worked for over a decade providing theoretical solutions to problems in silicon spin quantum computation, as well as other quantum technologies. He currently is the Head of Solid-State Theory for Diraq, an Australian start-up developing a scalable quantum processor.

April 21, 2023

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Risks to Standardisation in Quantum from Geopolitics to Commercial Interest - Quantum Computing Report

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center Centro Nacional de Supercomputacin (BSC-CNS) and Fujitsu Limited have signed a dual collaboration agreement on April 19 to promote personalized medicine through the exploitation of clinical data and to advance quantum simulation technologies using tensor networks.

Based on this agreement, the two parties will start joint research in May 2023.

The first collaboration project aims to position BSC and Fujitsu at the forefront of a new field that is key to enabling precision medicine: the ability to exploit different types of data to be used in the clinic, from molecular features in the genome to large scale features in X-ray images. In this way, the two parties will not only contribute to improving disease detection rates, but also to reducing the burden on doctors when diagnosing diseases. Great efforts are being made to make clinical data available at both the national and European levels, but the development of technologies to fully exploit such data remains in its early stages.

This project combines BSCs Life Sciences department expertise in natural language processing of medical records, genomics, and multi-layer networks with Fujitsus existing research in genomics AI, large scale causal discovery, computer vision and HPC high speed computing technology. The two parties aim to create a next generation large-scale multimodal AI technology for precision medicine by realizing medical data with large-scale graph structure leveraging these respective strengths. Another primary goal of the collaboration is the development of digital twins in biomedicine, using genomics, medical and imaging data as input for models of biological processes and cellular interactions.

Quantum computing simulation

The second collaborative initiative focuses on the simulation of quantum circuits using tensor networks. The simulation of quantum computers offers the possibility to design, develop, and test novel quantum algorithms under conditions not available yet in experimental devices.

Expanding the scale of quantum circuit calculations represents an ongoing challenge, as current quantum simulators must double memory when increasing the size of a quantum circuit for 1 qubit.

To address this issue, the two parties will utilize tensor networks to reduce the computational complexity of quantum circuits, realizing a quantum simulator that can perform large-scale quantum circuit calculations with the same memory capacity as before and allowing simulations comparable in size to the best current quantum devices.

In this project, BSC and Fujitsu will develop new high-performance computing (HPC) tensor network methods suitable for Fujitsu systems and other modern architectures. In a second phase, the results will be applied to relevant industrial customer problems, including a comprehensive study of potential applications of quantum circuit simulation.

Mateo Valero, director of BSC, said: This dual agreement with Fujitsu, which is the culmination of years of mutual collaboration, allows us to advance research in two important areas such as personalized medicine and quantum computing. We hope that this joint research will result in new technologies that can ultimately benefit society.

Fujitsu Limited SEVP, CTO & CPO, Vivek Mahajan comments:We are excited to collaborate with BSC to accelerate R&D on multimodal AI and quantum simulators. We will build on this joint research program to further strengthen our lineup of advanced computing and AI technologies and develop new practical applications. Fujitsu will actively promote joint research on a global level to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society and take the lead in a sustainable technology development.

This article was first published on 19 April by Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

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Fujitsu and BSC join forces to advance research in personalised ... - Science Business

Business computing giant IBM and Big Four professional services firm EY have entered into a heavyweight alliance, which will see the two companies collaborate to bring quantum computing solutions to their global clients. EY will become part of IBMs quantum network community, using the access this provides to apply quantum solutions to some of the greatest problems businesses and governments face around the world.

Quantum computing is a multidisciplinary field comprising aspects of computer science, physics, and mathematics that utilizes quantum mechanics to solve complex problems faster than on classical computers. Quantum technologies have long been identified as a key priority to promote economic development, with some studies suggesting they will have a global market value of as much as $1 trillion by 2035. As a result, Governments are supplying tax breaks to tech companies investing in R&D to make the innovation a reality.

This has triggered something of a gold-rush in the professional services sector. In 2022,EY became the latest consulting giant to begin exploring the potential of quantum computing, by establishing its own Global Quantum Lab. Its new partnership with IBM, becoming part of the IBM Quantum Network, will further enable EY to explore solutions with quantum technology which could resolve some of todays most complex business and global challenges including the climate crisis.

Steve Varley, EY Global Vice Chair for Sustainability, said, In order for organisations to address an ever-evolving set of ESG challenges, solutions must be delivered and deployable at a faster pace than ever before. The value of this deepened and longstanding alliance is in how it leverages the consulting and technology capabilities of both EY and IBM teams, to be at the forefront of how clients plan and accelerate their ESG journey and build trust with their most critical stakeholders.

Using IBM quantum technology, EY teams now plan to conduct leading-class research to uncover transformative use cases, including: the reduction of CO2 emissions from classical computing, the improvement of safety and accuracy of self-driving cars, and most critically, integrate quantum benefits into organizations mainstream systems for data processing and enterprise decision making. EY teams will also leverage their access to IBMs fleet of quantum computers, which is the largest in the world, to explore solutions to enterprise challenges across finance, oil and gas, healthcare, and government.

Jay Gambetta, Vice President, IBM Quantum, added, IBMs vision is to deliver useful quantum computing to the world. We value partners like the EY organization that can introduce the emerging technology to a wide ecosystem of public and private industry. This will help EY facilitate the exploration of quantum computings potential for use cases that matter in their industry.

Membership in the IBM Quantum Network is part of a broader effort by EY organisation to invest and develop robust capabilities in emerging technologies, which already include artificial intelligence, blockchain, and metaverse development. Beyond the increased investment of the EY-IBM Alliance, the EY organization is investing $10 billion in technology initiatives over three years, including investment in the organizations own quantum function.

Andy Baldwin, EY Global Managing Partner for Client Service, concluded, Quantum, in terms of importance to business, society and the EY organization, is akin to what AI represented years ago. This alliance puts the EY organisation at the forefront of technology. As we invest in this level of quantum computing access, we accelerate our own position and depth of knowledge and capabilities in this space and deepen our rich relationship with our IBM alliance teams.

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IBM and EY partner on ESG and quantum computing - Consultancy.uk

Sectigo Executives Will Discuss How CISOs Can Establish Digital Trust and Enable Automation as Certificate Lifespans Continue to Reduce

Roseland, NJ, April 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sectigo, a global leader in automated Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM), and digital certificates, today announced it is sponsoring and speaking at the RSA Conference (RSAC) 2023 in San Francisco, California. Sectigo executives will discuss the importance of establishing digital trust against the backdrop of shortening digital certificate lifespans and quantum computing.

RSAC, which takes place April 24-27, features the most influential thinkers in cybersecurity today, discussing current and future trends to empower organizations around the world to stand against cyber threats. Sectigo, a Silver Sponsor of RSAC (booth #1327), will demo the CA Agnostic automation capabilities of Sectigo Certificate Manager, the industrys most robust Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) Platform. In the wake of recent news of the upcoming reduction in maximum term for SSL certificates to 90 days, IT professionals worldwide are seeking to understand the consequences of this change on their operations. CLM is an indispensable part of that response.

The trend of shrinking certificate lifespans, or short life certificates, is oneSectigo predictedas far back as 2019. In recent years the maximum term for a public TLS certificate has dropped from three years, to two, to one. Recently, Google announced in its Moving Forward, Togetherroadmap the intention to reduce the maximum possible validity for public TLS certificates from 398 days to just 90.As we enter a new era of shorter certificate lifespans and quantum computing, the need for automation of certificate handling is sky high. said Tim Callan, Chief Experience Officer at Sectigo.

Callan continued: Sectigo recognizes that organizations of all sizes are struggling to reconcile growing numbers of digital certificates within their ecosystems. Many still take a manual approach to certificate lifecycle management. Our latest research found that 47%[1]of organizations cited using spreadsheets, scripts, or CA-provided tools to manage digital certificate lifecycles. As the security perimeter continues to widen, and certificate lifespans to reduce, this manual approach to digital certificate management will compound IT team workloads and hamper visibility into all digital identities. Ultimately, this creates risk of outage or exploit.

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The Sectigo team will be conducting hourly demos at RSAC 2023 to show the power of automated certificate management to solve issues arising from the manual management of increasing numbers of short-life certificates, as well as:

The Need for CA Agnostic CLM Manage public and private certificates from Sectigo with a modern approach to securing human and machine identities at scale from a central portal in the cloud.

Advanced Automation As certificate lifespans continue to shorten, enterprises must continually renew them. New automation capabilities can automatically provision, install, and renew certificates for all human and machine use cases.

In addition, Sectigo experts will look ahead at an exclusive session at RSAC, designed to help IT leaders future-proof their cryptography against the upcoming threat of quantum computing, which will require switching all encryption to quantum-resistant post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

Are You Ready for the Quantum Apocalypse?4:20pm April 25, presented by Sectigos Tim Callan, Chief Experience Officer: Quantum computing is a very real threat, and now is the time to start planning for fast, efficient, and error-free deployment to new cryptographic standards soon to be available. The immense processing power of a quantum computer is capable of breaking encryption at great speed, leaving important data vulnerable. Both government and private industry alike should be preparing today, or they risk being late.Find out morehere.

Sectigo also won two Global InfoSec Awards 2023 from Cyber Defense Magazine, announced today at RSAC: Next Gen Enterprise Security and Cutting Edge Security Company of the Year. These accolades closely follow recognition for Sectigo executives popular industry podcast, Root Causes, which was designated Webby Honoree at the recent Webby Awards 2023.

Visit http://www.sectigo.com/rsac23 to schedule a meeting or book a demo at RSAC.

About SectigoSectigo is a leading provider of automated Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions and digital certificates- trusted by the worlds largest brands. Its cloud-based universal CLM platform issues and manages the lifecycles of digital certificates issued by Sectigo and other Certificate Authorities (CAs) to secure every human and machine identity across the enterprise. With over 20 years establishing digital trust, Sectigo is one of the longest-standing and largest CAs with more than 700,000 customers. For more information, visitwww.sectigo.com.

[1]Managing Digital Identities:Tools & Tactics, Priorities & Threats, Sectigo Research, Conducted by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), 2021.

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Sectigo Attends RSAC 2023 to Prepare IT Community for 90-Day TLS - Yahoo Finance

The contemporary computer processor at only half the size of a penny possesses the extraordinary capacity to carry out 11 trillion operations per second, with the assistance of an impressive assembly of 16 billion transistors.[1] This feat starkly contrasts the early days of transistor-based machines, such as the Manchester Transistor Computer, which had an estimated 100,000 operations per second, using 92 transistors and having a dimension of a large refrigerator. For comparison, while the Manchester Transistor Computer could take several seconds or minutes to calculate the sum of two large numbers, the Apple M1 chip can calculate it almost instantly. Such a rapid acceleration of processing capabilities and device miniaturization is attributable to the empirical observation known as Moores Law, named after the late Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel. Moores Law posits that the number of transistors integrated into a circuit is poised to double approximately every two years.[2]

In their development, these powerful processors have paved the way for advancements in diverse domains, including the disruptive field of artificial intelligence (AI). Nevertheless, as we confront the boundaries of Moores Law due to the physical limits of transistor miniaturization,[3] the horizons of the field of computing are extended into the enigmatic sphere of quantum physics the branch of physics that studies the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic scales. It is within this realm that the prospect of quantum computing arises, offering immense potential for exponential growth in computational performance and speed, thereby heralding a transformative era in AI.

In this article, we scrutinize the captivating universe of quantum computing and its prospective implications on the development of AI and examine the legal measures adopted by leading tech companies to protect their innovations within this rapidly advancing field, particularly through patent law.

Qubits: The Building Blocks of Quantum Computing

In classical computing, the storage and computation of information are entrusted to binary bits, which assume either a 0 or 1 value. For example, a classical computer can have a specialized storage device called a register that can store a specific number at a time using bits. Each bit is like a slot that can be either empty (0) or occupied (1), and together they can represent numbers, such as the number 2 (with a binary representation of 010). In contrast, quantum computing harnesses the potential of quantum bits (infinitesimal particles, such as electrons or photons, defined by their respective quantum properties, including spin or polarization), commonly referred to as qubits.

Distinct from their classical counterparts, qubits can coexist in a superposition of states, signifying their capacity to represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously. This advantage means that, unlike bits with slots that are either empty or occupied, each qubit can be both empty and occupied at the same time, allowing each register to represent multiple numbers concurrently. While a bit register can only represent the number 2 (010), a qubit register can represent both the numbers 2 and 4 (010 and 100) simultaneously.

This superposition of states enables the parallel processing of information since multiple numbers in a qubit register can be processed at one time. For example, a classical computer may use two different bit registers to first add the number 2 to the number 4 (010 +100) and then add the number 4 to the number 1 (100+001), performing the calculations one after the other. In contrast, qubit registers, since they can hold multiple numbers at once, can perform both operationsadding the number 2 to the number 4 (010 + 100) and adding the number 4 to the number 1 (100 + 001)simultaneously.

Moreover, qubits employ the singular characteristics of entanglement and interference to execute intricate computations with a level of efficiency unattainable by classical computers. For instance, entanglement facilitates instant communication and coordination, which increases computational efficiency. At the same time, interference involves performing calculations on multiple possibilities at once and adjusting probability amplitudes to guide the quantum system toward the optimal solution. Collectively, these attributes equip quantum computers with the ability to confront challenges that would otherwise remain insurmountable for conventional computing systems, thereby radically disrupting the field of computing and every field that depends on it.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing embodies a transformative leap for AI, providing the capacity to process large data sets and complex algorithms at unprecedented speeds. This transformative technology has far-reaching implications in fields like cryptography,[4] drug discovery,[5] financial modeling,[6] and numerous other disciplines, as it offers unparalleled computational power and efficacy. For example, a classical computer using a General Number Field Sieve (GNFS) algorithm might take several months or even years to factorize a 2048-bit number. In contrast, a quantum computer using Shors algorithm (a quantum algorithm) could potentially accomplish this task in a matter of hours or days. This capability can be used to break the widely used RSA public key encryption system, which would take conventional computers tens or hundreds of millions of years to break, jeopardizing the security of encrypted data, communications, and transactions across industries such as finance, healthcare, and government. Leveraging the unique properties of qubitsincluding superposition, entanglement, and interference quantum computers are equipped to process vast amounts of information in parallel. This capability enables them to address intricate problems and undertake calculations at velocities that, in certain but not all cases,[7] surpass those of classical computers by orders of magnitude.

The augmented computational capacity of quantum computing is promising to significantly disrupt various AI domains, encompassing quantum machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and optimization quandaries. For instance, quantum algorithms can expedite the training of machine learning models by processing extensive datasets with greater efficiency, enhancing performance, and accelerating model development. Furthermore, quantum-boosted natural language processing algorithms may yield more precise language translation, sentiment analysis, and information extraction, fundamentally altering how we engage with technology.

Patent Applications Related to Quantum Computers

While quantum computers remain in their nascent phase, to date, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has received more than 6,000 applications directed to quantum computers, with over 1,800 applications being granted a United States patent. Among these applications and patents, IBM emerges as the preeminent leader, trailed closely by various companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Intel, which are recognized as significant contributors to the field of AI. For instance, Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI (the developer of ChatGPT) and has developed Azure AI (a suite of AI services and tools for implementing AI into applications or services) and is integrating ChatGPT into various Microsoft products like Bing and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Similarly, Google has created AI breakthroughs such as AlphaGo (AI that defeated the world champion of the board game Go), hardware like tensor processing units (TPUs) (for accelerating machine learning and deep learning tasks), and has released its own chatbot called Bard (also known as LaMDA).

Patents Covering Quantum Computing

The domain of quantum computing is progressing at a remarkable pace, as current research seeks to refine hardware, create error correction methodologies, and investigate novel algorithms and applications. IBM and Microsoft stand at the forefront of this R&D landscape in quantum computing. Both enterprises have strategically harnessed their research findings to secure early patents encompassing quantum computers. Notwithstanding, this initial phase may merely represent the inception of a competitive endeavor to obtain patents in this rapidly evolving field. A few noteworthy and recent United States patents that have been granted thus far include:

Conclusion

Quantum computing signifies a monumental leap forward for AI, offering unparalleled computational strength and efficiency. As we approach the limits of Moores Law, the future of AI is contingent upon harnessing qubits distinctive properties, such as superposition, entanglement, and interference. The cultivation of quantum machine learning, along with its applications in an array of AI domains, including advanced machine learning, NLP, and optimization, portends a revolution in how we address complex challenges and engage with technology.

Prominent tech companies like IBM and Microsoft have demonstrated their commitment to this burgeoning field through investments and the construction of patent portfolios that encompass this technology. The evident significance of quantum computing in shaping the future of AI suggests that we may be witnessing the onset of a competitive patent race within the sphere of quantum computing.

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The Quantum Frontier: Disrupting AI and Igniting a Patent Race - Lexology

RIKEN physicists suggest that a quantum property called magic may be the key to understanding how spacetime emerged, based on a new mathematical analysis that connects it to the chaotic nature of black holes.

Physicists relate the quantum property of magic to the chaotic nature of black holes for the first time.

A quantum property dubbed magic could be the key to explaining how space and time emerged, a new mathematical analysis by three RIKEN physicists suggests.

Its hard to conceive of anything more basic than the fabric of spacetime that underpins the Universe, but theoretical physicists have been questioning this assumption. Physicists have long been fascinated about the possibility that space and time are not fundamental, but rather are derived from something deeper, says Kanato Goto of the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS).

A view of the M87 supermassive black hole. RIKEN theoretical physicists have related the chaotic nature of black holes to the quantum property of magic for the first time. Credit: EHT Collaboration

This notion received a boost in the 1990s, when theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena related the gravitational theory that governs spacetime to a theory involving quantum particles. In particular, he imagined a hypothetical spacewhich can be pictured as being enclosed in something like an infinite soup can, or bulkholding objects like black holes that are acted on by gravity. Maldacena also imagined particles moving on the surface of the can, controlled by quantum mechanics. He realized that mathematically a quantum theory used to describe the particles on the boundary is equivalent to a gravitational theory describing the black holes and spacetime inside the bulk.

This relationship indicates that spacetime itself does not exist fundamentally, but emerges from some quantum nature, says Goto. Physicists are trying to understand the quantum property that is key.

Kanato Goto and two colleagues have performed an analysis using wormholes that sheds light on the black-hole information paradox. Credit: 2022 RIKEN

The original thought was that quantum entanglementwhich links particles no matter how far they are separatedwas the most important factor: the more entangled particles on the boundary are, the smoother the spacetime within the bulk.

But just considering the degree of entanglement on the boundary cannot explain all the properties of black holes, for instance, how their interiors can grow, says Goto.

So Goto and iTHEMS colleagues Tomoki Nosaka and Masahiro Nozaki searched for another quantum quantity that could apply to the boundary system and could also be mapped to the bulk to describe black holes more fully. In particular, they noted that black holes have a chaotic characteristic that needs to be described.

When you throw something into a black hole, information about it gets scrambled and cannot be recovered, says Goto. This scrambling is a manifestation of chaos.

The team came across magic, which is a mathematical measure of how difficult a quantum state is to simulate using an ordinary classical (non-quantum) computer. Their calculations showed that in a chaotic system almost any state will evolve into one that is maximally magicalthe most difficult to simulate.

This provides the first direct link between the quantum property of magic and the chaotic nature of black holes. This finding suggests that magic is strongly involved in the emergence of spacetime, says Goto.

Reference: Probing chaos by magic monotones by Kanato Goto, Tomoki Nosaka and Masahiro Nozaki, 19 December 2022, Physical Review D.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.106.126009

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Quantum Magic and Black Hole Chaos Could Help Explain the ... - SciTechDaily