The quantum computers - it's time to start building expertise

Cracking, for example, a 2048-bit RSA encryption key (widely used today to secure current Internet traffic) would take decades for even the fastest supercomputers in existence. According to the latest estimates, however, a quantum computer could crack the code in eight hours

The IBM Q quantum computer has 50 quantum bits. Source: IBM.
The IBM Q quantum computer has 50 quantum bits. Source: IBM.

For several years now we have been told that we are automatically approaching the era of quantum computing, but even the most optimistic estimates state that practical use will begin in more than a decade. But the technology involves such a disruptive paradigm shift in computing that sensible developers should start testing quantum computers now.

Discussions of quantum computers tend to focus on their potential for performance that far exceeds that of conventional computers. One of the applications that is often mentioned in this context is cryptography, specifically the cracking of data security by extracting private encryption keys from protected message traffic. The algorithms to do this are known, but they are so computationally intensive that cracking, for example, a 2048-bit RSA encryption key (widely used today to secure current Internet traffic) would take even the fastest supercomputers decades. According to the latest estimates, however, a quantum computer could crack the code in eight hours.

It is this alarming possibility—that encrypted traffic once considered secure well beyond the useful life of the protected information may be at risk—that created so much excitement around quantum computers in the first place. But code cracking isn't the only application where the technology promises disruptive breakthroughs, and these other possibilities have created additional interest. Medicine, materials science, molecular biology and financial applications, all these fields are investigating what quantum computers can do for them. And the matter is growing.

In 2018, the US government enacted the National Quantum Initiative Act, created a National Quantum Coordination Office and allocated $1.2 billion to fund quantum information science activities over the next five years. The European Union also approved funding of up to €XNUMX billion for a quantum master plan. And China is investing heavily, to pass American quantum technology.

Quantum computers are already working, but for now they are too simple to outperform ordinary computers (a milestone known as quantum supremacy). IBM made its Q System One computer available for commercial experiments and research and established a network of partners such as Exxon/Mobil to promote the nascent industry. D-wave, Regetti and several other companies give access to working quantum computers. Google has a quantum artificial intelligence research activity, as does Intel, and Microsoft has created its own quantum network that includes software and hardware vendors to advance the technology.

So this is still the early period of the technology and many years before it leaves the field of research for practical application. But it is still important that industries start to investigate the use of this technology today. This early start is necessary because quantum computers are not only faster computers, they are dramatically different from ordinary computers in the way they solve problems. Developers will need the time to familiarize themselves with the new approach and be ready to use quantum computers as soon as they are ready.

A traditional computer achieves its results by following a sequence of steps, called an algorithm, as it performs calculations. If it is looking for a value that optimizes or satisfies some complex equation, for example, a traditional computer must algorithmically examine, one by one, all possible choices. But a quantum computer actually considers all possible answers simultaneously using the properties of entanglement and superposition quantum mechanics.

To use quantum computers, the programmer specifies a series of quantum gates that determine the conditions that define the problem that needs to be solved. This array of quantum gates exploits the probability and wave-interference properties of the quantum computer's bits (called qubits) to change an input vector so that the output vector represents a plausible answer to the problem. But one run does not provide certainty about its result, but only a high probability that it is correct. By performing many such experiments, the quantum computer can raise this probability to as close to certainty as desired. And although many runs are needed to produce an accurate result, the total computation time can be significantly less than the algorithmic approach if the quantum computer has enough qubits in operation.

This approach is so different from conventional computers that current expertise in computers and programming would be virtually inapplicable to quantum computers. Developers will have to start from scratch to learn quantum computers. The time to start building expertise in quantum computers is, therefore, now.

The media company Aspencor Networks devoted to the topic A special project on quantum computers in which, among other things, a guideThe basics of quantum computing" and a glimpse into the future: "What's next for quantum computers?"

More of the topic in Hayadan:

Comments

  1. The phenomena observed in FACEBOOK and TESLA are that in TESLA they began to develop rules in which it is legitimate to physically harm a person in an autonomous vehicle and also in FACEBOOK that bins developed a secret language to communicate with each other that is not dictated by a person. While bins are still at a low level in relation to us.

  2. The goal was not completely achieved. A quantum computer is in the state it was in CRAY - the first computers with radio tubes. It has up to 75 QBIT, with each QBIT cooled by liquid nitrogen and quantum entanglement probably achieved by a laser.
    Chips were built that extract the information from the quantum chandelier in the picture for further processing by a digital computer.
    Some problems have not been solved: one is the noise created as the number of QBITS increases so that the number of QBITS can be increased almost without limit. And second is the minimization. That may be what the article meant.
    One thing should be clear: when GOOGLE and IBM have an intelligence that runs at 2 to the 50th power, times 3 times 10 at the ninth of the hertz, an intelligence equal to and even surpassing human intelligence has been achieved. Just don't be subject to human moral laws, certainly not towards humans. This will be evidenced by phenomena observed in FACEBOOK, TESLA and I estimate that they were observed and not reported in the two previous companies. Man also has no inhibitions about the use he makes towards animals. Even if consideration is given to this, the states will not resist the temptation. A being who thinks faster and better than us has no reason to depend on us. And a final note: I believe in the existence of the Creator, but also in the fact that most civilizations do not survive stages in their evolution.

  3. To 101:

    There was an announcement from NASA that a Google computer really succeeded in proving quantum supremacy, but the news was quickly removed. According to the rumors, an article on the subject is going to be published in Nature in about three weeks and then we will know more. According to the same rumors, the reason for taking down the news is not that it is incorrect, but that according to the magazine's requirement, it is forbidden to publish news about what is going to be published in its next issue.

    We'll see.

  4. Not so simple. Although the road is ahead of us. IBM already offers a quantum programming language, and Professor Shashua published
    A groundbreaking series of papers on the analogy between neural networks and quantum particles.

  5. Correction of an error in the article, Google has already announced that it has achieved quantum supremacy so this is a milestone we have already passed contrary to what is claimed in the article.

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