Quantum Computing for Everyone – The Startup – Medium
Posted: March 19, 2020 at 1:52 pm
Qubits are exponentially faster than bits in several computing problems, such as database searches and factoring (which, as we will discuss soon, may break your Internet encryption).
An important thing to realize is that qubits can hold much more information than a bit can. One bit holds the same amount of information as one qubit they can both only hold one value. However, four bits must be used to store the same amount of information as two qubits. A two-qubit system in equal superposition holds values for four states, which on a classical computer, would need at least four bits to hold. Eight bits are needed to store the same amount of information as three qubits, since a three-qubit system can store eight states 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, and 111. This pattern continues.
The below graph provides a visual for the computing power of qubits. The x-axis represents the number of qubits used to hold a certain amount of information. The blue lines y represents the number of bits needed to hold the same amount of information as the number of qubits (x-axis), or 2 to the power of x. The red lines y represents the number of qubits needed to hold the same amount of information as the number of qubits in the x-axis (y=x).
Imagine the exponential speedup quantum computing can provide! A gigabyte (8E+09 bits) worth of information can be represented with log(8E+09)/log(2) = 33 (rounded up from 32.9) qubits.
Quantum computers are also great at factoring numbers which leads us to RSA encryption. The security protocol that secures Medium and probably any other website youve been on is known as RSA encryption. It relies on the fact that with current computing resources, it would take a very, very long time to factor a 30+-digit number m that has only one solution namely, p times q, where both p and q are large prime numbers. However, dividing m by p or q is computationally much easier, and since m divided by q returns p and vice versa, it provides a quick key verification system.
A quantum algorithm called Shors algorithm has shown exponential speedup in factoring numbers, which could one day break RSA encryption. But dont buy into the hype yet as of this writing, the largest number factored by quantum computers is 21 (into 3 and 7). The hardware has not been developed yet for quantum computers to factor 30-digit numbers or even 10-digit numbers. Even if quantum computers one day do break RSA encryption, a new security protocol called BB84 that relies on quantum properties is verified safe from quantum computers.
So will quantum computers ever completely replace the classical PC? Not in the forseeable future.
Quantum computing, while developing very rapidly, is still in an infantile stage, with research only being conducted semi-competitively by large corporations like Google, Microsoft, and IBM. Much of the hardware to accelerate quantum computing is not currently available. There are several obstacles to a quantum future, of which a major one is addressing gate errors and maintaining integrity of a qubits state.
However, given the amount of innovation that has happened in the past few years, it seems inevitable during our lifetimes that quantum computing will make huge strides. In addition, complexity theory has shown that there are several cases where classical computers perform better than quantum computers. IBM quantum computer developers state that quantum computing will probably never completely eliminate classical computers. Instead, in the future we may see a hybrid chip that relies on quantum transistors for certain tasks and classical transistors for others, depending on which one is more appropriate.
Read more:
Quantum Computing for Everyone - The Startup - Medium
- Beam me up: long-distance quantum teleportation has happened for the first time ever - SYFY WIRE - December 26th, 2020
- Quanta's Year in Math and Computer Science (2020) - Quanta Magazine - December 26th, 2020
- What the Hell Is Quantum Chess? | IE - Interesting Engineering - December 26th, 2020
- The Interview Issue: Eisgruber is trying to reshape the meaning of a Princeton education even as his school, and higher ed as a whole, grapples with... - December 26th, 2020
- Satoshis Bitcoin Fortune Will Be Easiest Batch for Quantum Computers to Hack, Says Andreas Antonopoulos - The Daily Hodl - December 26th, 2020
- Europe Is on Its Way To Quantum Leadership, IQM Raises 39 M in Series A Funding - Embedded Computing Design - November 30th, 2020
- How Scientists Have Learned To Work With the Quantum World - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - November 30th, 2020
- Archer Materials makes strong progress in shifting focus to Advanced Materials Business and technology - Proactive Investors USA & Canada - November 30th, 2020
- 01 Communique to Present at the Benzinga Global Small Cap Conference on December 8 - IT News Online - November 30th, 2020
- What is Quantum Computing, and How does it Help Us? - Analytics Insight - October 11th, 2020
- 4 Reasons Why Now Is the Best Time to Start With Quantum Computing - Medium - October 11th, 2020
- Race for quantum supremacy gathers momentum with several companies joining bandwagon, says GlobalData - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - October 11th, 2020
- Quantum computing: Photon startup lights up the future of computers and cryptography - ZDNet - October 8th, 2020
- Canadian quantum computing firms partner to spread the technology - IT World Canada - October 8th, 2020
- Google's Billion Dollar News, Commercial Quantum Computers And More In This Week's Top News - Analytics India Magazine - October 8th, 2020
- SC20 Invited Speakers Tackle Challenges for the Earth, Its Inhabitants, and Our Security Using 'More Than HPC' - HPCwire - October 8th, 2020
- A new claimant for "most powerful quantum computer" - Axios - October 3rd, 2020
- ESAs -Week: Digital Twin Earth, Quantum Computing and AI Take Center Stage - SciTechDaily - October 3rd, 2020
- Schrdingers Web offers a sneak peek at the quantum internet - Science News - October 3rd, 2020
- Global QC Market Projected to Grow to More Than $800 million by 2024 - HPCwire - October 3rd, 2020
- Berkeley Lab Technologies Honored With 7 R&D 100 Awards - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - October 3rd, 2020
- oneAPI Academic Center of Excellence Established at the Heidelberg University Computing Center (URZ) - HPCwire - October 3rd, 2020
- Baidu offers quantum computing from the cloud - VentureBeat - September 26th, 2020
- IBM Partners With HBCUs to Diversify Quantum Computing Workforce - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education - September 26th, 2020
- IBM, Alphabet and well-funded startups in the race for quantum supremacy - IT Brief Australia - September 26th, 2020
- IBM plans to build a 1121 qubit system. What does this technology mean? - The Hindu - September 26th, 2020
- Inaugural OSA Quantum 2.0 Conference Featured Talks on Emerging Technologies - Novus Light Technologies Today - September 26th, 2020
- Could Quantum Computing Progress Be Halted by Background Radiation? - Singularity Hub - September 1st, 2020
- Fermilab to lead $115 million National Quantum Information Science Research Center to build revolutionary quantum computer with Rigetti Computing,... - September 1st, 2020
- The future of artificial intelligence and quantum computing - Military & Aerospace Electronics - September 1st, 2020
- Researchers Found Another Impediment for Quantum Computers to Overcome - Dual Dove - September 1st, 2020
- Quantum Cryptography Market Research Analysis Including Growth Factors, Types And Application By Regions From 2024 - Kentucky Journal 24 - September 1st, 2020
- Q-NEXT collaboration awarded National Quantum Initiative funding - University of Wisconsin-Madison - September 1st, 2020
- This Equation Calculates The Chances We Live In A Computer Simulation - Discover Magazine - September 1st, 2020
- I confess, I'm scared of the next generation of supercomputers - TechRadar - September 1st, 2020
- Honeywell Wants To Show What Quantum Computing Can Do For The World - Forbes - August 14th, 2020
- Quantum Computing for the Next Generation of Computer Scientists and Researchers - Campus Technology - August 14th, 2020
- Quantum mechanics is immune to the butterfly effect - The Economist - August 14th, 2020
- Major quantum computational breakthrough is shaking up physics and maths - The Conversation UK - August 14th, 2020
- IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE20) Transitions to All-Virtual Event - PRNewswire - August 14th, 2020
- 6 new degrees approved, including graduate degrees in biostatistics and quantum information science: News at IU - IU Newsroom - August 14th, 2020
- The race to building a fully functional quantum stack - TechCrunch - August 14th, 2020
- Toshiba Exits PC Business 35 Years of IBM Compatible PCs - Electropages - August 14th, 2020
- IBM Z mainframes revived by Red Hat, AI and security - TechTarget - August 14th, 2020
- Quantum computing will (eventually) help us discover vaccines in days - VentureBeat - May 17th, 2020
- Quantum computing analytics: Put this on your IT roadmap - TechRepublic - May 17th, 2020
- Video: The Future of Quantum Computing with IBM - insideHPC - May 17th, 2020
- Registration Open for Inaugural IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering - HPCwire - May 17th, 2020
- Light, fantastic: the path ahead for faster, smaller computer processors - News - The University of Sydney - May 17th, 2020
- VTT to acquire Finland's first quantum computer seeking to bolster Finland's and Europe's competitiveness - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - May 12th, 2020
- IonQ CEO Peter Chapman on how quantum computing will change the future of AI - VentureBeat - May 12th, 2020
- David Graves to Head New Research at PPPL for Plasma Applications in Industry and Quantum Information Science - HPCwire - May 12th, 2020
- Recent Research Answers the Future of Quantum Machine Learning on COVID-19 - Analytics Insight - May 12th, 2020
- Kerry Emanuel, David Sabatini, and Peter Shor receive BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge awards - MIT News - May 12th, 2020
- Between God and Science in the Surreal Silicon Valley of Devs - The Nation - May 12th, 2020
- Online course trains students in the bizarre world of quantum computing - Livescience.com - May 2nd, 2020
- Devs: Here's the real science behind the quantum computing TV show - New Scientist News - May 2nd, 2020
- New Princeton study takes superconductivity to the edge - Princeton University - May 2nd, 2020
- Quantum computer chips demonstrated at the highest temperatures ever - New Scientist News - April 16th, 2020
- Calling On AI And Quantum Computing To Fight The Coronavirus - Forbes - April 16th, 2020
- COVID-19: Quantum computing could someday find cures for coronaviruses and other diseases - TechRepublic - April 16th, 2020
- Alex Garland on 'Devs,' free will and quantum computing - Engadget - April 16th, 2020
- Making Sense of the Science and Philosophy of Devs - The Ringer - April 16th, 2020
- D-Wave makes its quantum computers free to anyone working on the coronavirus crisis - VentureBeat - April 2nd, 2020
- We're Getting Closer to the Quantum Internet, But What Is It? - HowStuffWorks - April 2nd, 2020
- Q-CTRL to Host Live Demos of 'Quantum Control' Tools - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - April 2nd, 2020
- Disrupt The Datacenter With Orchestration - The Next Platform - April 2nd, 2020
- Quantum Computing: Will It Actually Produce Jobs? - Dice Insights - March 19th, 2020
- Quantum computing is right around the corner, but cooling is a problem. What are the options? - Diginomica - March 19th, 2020
- Work from home: Improve your security with MFA - We Live Security - March 19th, 2020
- Career navigation Be at the core or be at the edge - The Financial Express BD - March 19th, 2020
- TensorFlow gets its quantum of solace, lid lifted on 'all-seeing crime-detecting' AI upstart, and more - The Register - March 17th, 2020
- What Is Quantum Computing, And How Can It Unlock Value For Businesses? - Computer Business Review - January 27th, 2020
- The End Of The Digital Revolution Is Coming: Here's What's Next - Innovation Excellence - January 27th, 2020
- Delta Partners with IBM to Explore Quantum Computing - Database Trends and Applications - January 27th, 2020
- Quantum networking projected to be $5.5 billion market in 2025 - TechRepublic - January 27th, 2020
- University of Sheffield launches Quantum centre to develop the technologies of tomorrow - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - January 27th, 2020
- 5G, AI and Quantum Computing: Who Knows Where It Will All Lead? - Planet Vending - January 27th, 2020
- CES 2020: IBM and Daimler teaming up for a quantum leap in battery tech - CNET - January 12th, 2020
- Google and IBM square off in Schrodingers catfight over quantum supremacy - The Register - January 12th, 2020