DailyDirt: Who Cares About Moore's Law Anymore?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The end of Moore's law is basically here already, but it's not such a surprise. It's maybe more surprising that it's lasted so long. What are we going to do now that our computers aren't getting exponentially better? Try completely different ways of making computers, of course. Quantum computers are making some significant advances, even though they're not ready to compete with regular silicon processors just yet. Here are just a few new quantum milestones that could lead to some re-thinking of encryption schemes and programming courses.

• A quantum computer built from just 5 atoms demonstrates a possible new way to build a practical quantum computer with many, many more qubits. The researchers working on this demo used Shor's algorithm to factor the number 15 (ok, not exactly encryption-breaking yet), but it's another step towards scaling up a quantum computer that could do calculations that are impractical for traditional computers today. [url]
• A quantum spin liquid could be useful for making a quantum computer someday -- if we can figure out how to manipulate them and measure them correctly. Cooling exotic materials down to near absolute zero is a bit problematic, but a few supercomputers in the 1980s were cooled with liquid nitrogen, so it's not impossible to imagine liquid-helium-cooled quantum computers will exist for a while until technology improves. [url]
• Optical qubits are making some progress, too. Researchers have achieved "multiphoton entangled quantum states" -- for the first time -- and they say it should be scalable.... [url]

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Filed Under: optical qubits, quantum computers, quantum computing, quantum physics, quantum spin liquid, qubits, shor's algorithm, supercomputers

DailyDirt: Quantum Computing Works Now (Sorta)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If you haven't heard about quantum computing, it's an alternative to "classical computing" that relies on some strange properties of quantum physics. Sure, the computer (or whatever device) you're reading this on also relies on physics a bit, but it stores information digitally as ones and zeroes -- and not some superposition of two states of matter in an array. A few organizations are working on quantum computers (e.g., Google, NASA, D-Wave, Cambridge Quantum Computing, Yale Quantum Institute, Microsoft, IBM, etc.), but the true potential is still just slightly out of reach (for now).

• A D-Wave quantum computer tested by Google (and hosted by NASA) has been demonstrated to outperform a traditional computer -- at least for one very specific task. Google has been trying to see what it can do with more and more qubits, and it looks like if Google and D-Wave can keep adding more qubits to their system, they might actually get a quantum computer that can beat our old digital computers (without rigging up a contrived test). [url]
• Cambridge Quantum Computing is working on a quantum computer operating system. It's a bit difficult to imagine how an operating system is created when the underlying hardware can potentially be built in numerous (and sometimes unproven) ways. [url]
• Curious folks can play with a virtual 22-qubit quantum computer -- the Quantum Computing Playground (from Google). This demo runs in a browser and just simulates how a quantum computer could work with a scripting language. This isn't going to print "Hello, World!" a gazillion times. [url]
• If you're wondering what quantum computers might be good for, one of the examples is "optimization problems" -- such as a class of math problems that are NP hard, like the traveling salesman problem. Some folks think quantum computing will unlock a breakthrough for artificial intelligence, allowing computers to "brute force" their way into tackling complex problems without having to invent faster and smaller semiconducting chips. (But there's a chance that we'll have to figure out how to invent ways to make more and more qubits?) [url]

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Filed Under: np hard, operating system, optimization, quantum computers, quantum computing playground, quantum physics, qubits, shor's algorithm
Companies: cambridge quantum computing, d-wave, google, ibm, microsoft, nasa, yale quantum institute

NSA Trying To Build A Quantum Computer To Crack Lots Of Encryption, But Not Having Much Luck Yet

from the so,-like-everyone-else,-then dept

The latest Washington Post article concerning documents revealed by Ed Snowden doesn't really reveal all that much, other than the unsurprising news that the NSA is trying to build a quantum computer that could help it break lots of forms of encryption (though, not all). But, the key point here is that the NSA really doesn't seem to have gotten any further than anyone else in this endeavor.

Physicists and computer scientists have long speculated whether the NSA’s efforts are more advanced than those of the best civilian labs. Although the full extent of the agency’s research remains unknown, the documents provided by Snowden suggest that the NSA is no closer to success than others in the scientific community.

“It seems improbable that the NSA could be that far ahead of the open world without anybody knowing it,” said Scott Aaronson, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.

The NSA appears to regard itself as running neck and neck with quantum computing labs sponsored by the European Union and the Swiss government, with steady progress but little prospect of an immediate breakthrough.

“The geographic scope has narrowed from a global effort to a discrete focus on the European Union and Switzerland,” one NSA document states.

Of the various leaks so far, this one definitely falls into the category of... not that big of a deal. You'd pretty much expect the NSA to be working on a project like this, and while it may employ lots of very smart folks, it would be pretty difficult for the NSA to be particularly far ahead of anyone else on a big challenge like this one. Yes, one day there will be quantum computers, and that will be a concern for certain forms of encryption. So it's certainly worth contemplating what to do when that happens, but, for now, it doesn't appear the NSA has some special sauce there, even if its big malware program is called QUANTUM.

Filed Under: encryption, nsa, quantum computers, surveillance