On Quantum Computing - Overclock.net

rabidgnome229 · 02-13-07

D-Wave's announcement of their intent to debut a quantum computer today has had a ton of coverage. Reading through the comments, though, it is clear that most people really don't understand what a quantum computer offers as opposed to a normal CPU. This article does a very nice job of explaining it.

Quote:

In what passes for normal in the quantum world, a properly prepared quantum object kept in isolation from the environment will actually exist in all possible states (be they energy, spin, etc.) at once—it exists as a superposition of states. Depending on the inputs to the system, a single state will be the most probable one occupied; repeated measurements of the same, freshly-prepared system can identify this most probable state. If you think of that object as a bit, it's easy to see how calculations can be done: set it in a ground state, perform a calculation by providing an input that influences its state, and then read it. Repeat the process a few times to get the probabilities sorted, and you've done a 1-bit calculation with a quantum bit, or qubit.

Needless to say, such a computer would badly underperform whatever is currently running your cell phone. But in the quantum world, two objects can be entangled; the state of one is linked to the state of another. Thanks to the combination of superposition and entanglement, this two-particle system will simultaneously exist in 2^2 states, but with only one probable state, influenced by experimental inputs. As more entangled particles are added, the system can simultaneously explore 2^n possible answers, where n is the number of qubits.

This ability to explore a large number of states simultaneously may have applications for a subset of a class of math problems called NP-complete, and D-Wave specifically claims that Orion solves these problems faster than a traditional computer.

Source

These kinds of applications will do little or nothing to speed calculations that would boost fps or the like (normal computing operation). However it solves the combinations-type problems (optimizing mail routes etc) nearly instantly whereas current processors need to brute-force it which occurs in exponential time.

If you have a minute give this a read - it doesn't assume much knowledge of quantum physics and will give you an idea of what D-Wave is actually offering.

forcemasteryoda · 02-13-07

there is a researcher at osu that came into my class to talk to us about quantum computers and she said that they are working on using nano particles (1/900 the width of a human hair) to store a bit of data. this could allow ... uhm... LOTS of terabytes of memory and storage in our lifetime..

Mhill2029 · 02-13-07

Quantum Physics is based on Random events. So with a Quantum Computer 1+1=3.....and it's acceptable. Go figure.

**adam144** · 02-13-07

So Orthos would be a bit buggered when it came to stressing a Quantum CPU? Lol.. I'd imagine tons of rounding errors, if 1+1 = 3!!

rabidgnome229 · 02-13-07

Did either of you actually read the article?

FrankenPC · 02-13-07

I'm interested in the idea of the qbit states resolving into a solution. I still don't really understand exactly how that works.

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On Quantum Computing

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