AmeliaStClair BrendaMcKenna Writing2010 2/19/2014

Quantumcomputersincomparisontoclassicalcomputers
Itwasntuntil1994thatquantumcomputersbecameofinteresttotheworld.Inthatyear,aman bythenameofPeterShorintroducedaquantumalgorithmforsolvingfactorizationproblemsin polynomialtime.Insimpleterms,Shorshowedhowtouseaquantumcomputertohackintomost moderndayencryptions.Ofcourse,atthetimetherewerenoquantumcomputersinexistence,sothere wasnowaytouseShorsalgorithm.Nowhowever,tenyearslater,quantumcomputersarebeginning tobecomeathingofthepresent.Butevenwiththeadvantagesthatsupposedlycomefromquantum computers,therearethingssuchascostandtimethatisrequiredforquantumcomputers,andalong withthespecialcontrolmeasuresthatarerequiredinordertoutilizethem,quantumcomputersatthe momentcannotbelookedatasfarmoreadvancedthanclassicalcomputersandshouldonlybeseenas equalstothosecomputers. Background Acomputerisdefinedasadevice,usuallyelectronic,thatprocessesdataaccordingtoasetof instructions(dictionary.com)Butthereismuchmorehappeningbehindthescenes.Thecomputers followsetsofrules,knownasalgorithms,totakeaninputandproduceanoutput.Astheyearshave passedsinceAlanTuringsoriginalinventionofhisturingmachinein1936,mathematiciansand
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computerscientistshavebeenworkingawayatthecomputer,attemptingtoimproveandperfectitif onlyonestepfurtherthanitwaspreviously.Thus,theworldenteredintotheinternet,andwordslike windowsandapplebegantohavedoublemeanings.However,aseachnewadvancementtakes place,theworldmovescloserandclosertoanewage,anageofquantumcomputers,ratherthanthe moretraditionalclassicalcomputers. Classicalcomputersarethecomputersthemajorityoftheworldcurrentlyuses.Theycomplete algorithmsbydoingonlyoneactionatatimeuntiltheycometoastoppingpoint.Theyusebitstohold piecesofinformation,andtheycanbeeithera0ora1.AlanTuringsturingmachineisanexampleofa classicalcomputer,butsoareIpadsandthemajorityofcommerciallysoldcomputers(Anderson). Aquantumcomputerusesquantummechanicstocomputethingsonamuchfasterscale comparedtothestandardcomputeroftoday.Comparedtoclassicalcomputers0or1bitscales, quantumcomputerscanusesomethingcalledthesuperposition(QuantumComputing101),meaning thatthequbits(quantumbits)canbeamixofboth0and1beforetheyaremeasured.Asthequbitcan beacombinationofboth0and1atthesametime,thequbitscancheckallthepossibilitiesatthesame time.Oncethequbitismeasured,itbecomeslikeSchrdingerscat,eitherdead(inthecaseofthequbit a0)oralive(a1).Inthecaseofquantumcomputers,0and1standforthedirectionofthequbit,and whenthequbitisinsuperpositionthereisapercentageofthetimeitisfoundinthestateof0anda percentageofthetimeitisfoundinthestateof1. Takeforexample,factoring.Itisextremelydifficultforclassicalcomputerstofactorlarge numbers,becausethecomputerhastocheckeachnumbercombinationuntilitendsupwiththeright combination.Foraquantumcomputer,thecomputercanutilizeaquantumalgorithm,andfindthe solutionmuchfasterduetothesuperpositionofthequbits.

AverylargepartofcomputerscienceowesitselftoaproblemtitledPversusNP.Pstands forPproblems,meaningtheycanbesolvedinpolynomialtimebyaturingmachine,whileNPstandsfor NPproblems,meaningtheycanbesolvedinpolynomialtimebyanondeterministicturingmachine.At thesametime,NPproblemscanbeverifiedinpolynomialtimebyaturingmachine.Manypeopleofthe worldarguethatquantumcomputersfaroutclassclassicalcomputersbecausetheyarefaster,especially whendealingwithNPproblems.Butthatisnotthecase.Infact,Theimprovementisnotinthespeed oftheindividualoperation,itisinthetotalnumberofoperationsitneedstoarriveattheresult (Veritasium).Soinreality,whilethenumberofstepsthecomputerhastotakedecreasesbecauseof quantumparallelism,quantumcomputerscouldstilltakeyearsorevenlongertoanswercertain problems. Cost Oneofthebiggestdrawbackstoquantumcomputersiscost.Acompanybythenameof DWaveisthefirstcommercialquantumcomputingcompanyinexistence(DWave).In2013 DWavereleasedtheirDWaveTwosystem,whichtheyclaimtohave512qubits.Thatsright,if somebodywantedaquantumcomputeratthisdayandage,theycangobuyit,anditonlyhasaprice tagsomewhereinthe$10+millionrange(Anthony).Comparedtoclassicalcomputersthataremuch moreaffordablethantheshinynewDWaveTwo.Ofcourse,thereisreasonforthecost.Inorderto havetheblankslatesothatquantummechanicscanworktoitsfullestcapabilities,thecomputermust firstbecooledto150xcolderthaninterstellarspace(0.02Kelvin),whichisnosmalltask(DWave). Thecomputersalsoneedtobeshieldedto50,000lessthanEarthsmagneticfield(DWave).This addstothepricetag.Theyalsorequire10billiontimeslowerthanatmosphericpressure(DWave). Allofthesecomponentsofthecomputerrequirepower,whichraisesthepriceofboththesystemand

theupkeepofthesystem. Time Indealingwithquantumcomputersintheyearof2014,theworldisdealingwiththefuture ratherthanthepresent.Andthatmeansthatnomatterwhatconclusionsaremadenow,theywillnotbe verifieduntillater,oncethetechnologybecomescapableofdoingwhatisneeded.WhenShorunveiled hisquantumalgorithm,itcouldntworkin1994becausethecomputerswerenowherenearexistenceat thattime.Andevennow,twentyyearslater,thereisstillmuchworktobedone.Afterall,ateamof researchersfromIQC[TheInstituteforQuantumComputing]andMITholdthecurrentworldrecord forthemostnumberofqubitsusedinanexperiment(12)...atruequantumcomputerthatoutperforms aclassicalcomputerisstillyearsaway(QuantumComputing101).Whenthebiggestamountofqubits theworldcancontrolisameretwelve,thereisplentyofroomforimprovement.Whilethereisstillmuch waitingrequiredbeforetheworldcanharnessquantumcomputersenoughthattheybecomeuseful,the classicalcomputersoftodayareavailabletoday. Control Evenoncetheworldbecomescapableenoughtobuildquantumcomputersthatarecapable enoughtosolveproblemsthatclassicalcomputerscannot,thereisnowaytoverifyifthequantum computerisworkingcorrectlyornot.Mainlytheproblemisthatquantumcomputersareoftenusedto solvethetypesofproblemsforwhich[computerscientists]havenootherconfirmationmechanism. [They]oftencan'tdoublecheck[thecomputers]work(Condlife).Thereisnopointinputtingmillions ofdollarsintoacomputerthatyoucantproveisworking,whenincomparisonclassicalcomputers

havebeenproventenfoldtoproducetherightanswer. Thereisalsothefactthatforeachnewalgorithmthatneedstobecomputedonaquantum computer,anentirelynewalgorithmneedstobewritteninordertoworkwiththequantumparallelism sothatthecomputercancomeupwithananswer. Asmentionedpreviously,percentages,notintegersmustbedealtwithinthecaseofquantum computers. andquantumentanglementeinsteincalledspookyfundamentalconnection.Entanglementisan extremelystrongcorrelationthatexistsbetweenquantumparticles (https://uwaterloo.ca/instituteforquantumcomputing/quantumcomputing101)

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Bone,Simon."TheHitchhiker'sGuideToQuantumComputing."Web.1Apr2014. Bonsor,Kevin,andJonathanStrickland."HowQuantumComputersWork."HowStuffWorks.Web. 2Apr2014. Condlife,Jamie."What'sWrongWithQuantumComputing."Gizmodo.25Oct2013.Web.7 Apr2014. DWaveTheQuantumComputingCompany.Web.2Apr2014. Fortnow,Lance.ThestatusofthePversusNPProblem.CommunicationsofTheACM 52.9(2009):7886.Print. Hagar,Amit."QuantumComputing."StanfordEncyclopediaofPhilosophy.StanfordUniversity,17 Feb2011.Web.4Apr2014. Moskowitz,Clara."EinsteinsSpookyPhysicsGetsMoreEntangled."LiveScience.3Jun2009. Web.2Apr2014. "QuantumComputing101."InstituteforQuantumComputing.UniversityofWaterloo.Web.5Apr 2014. Rieffel,Eleanor."ABriefDescriptionofQuantumComputing."FXPAL.Web.1Apr2014. Simonite,Tom."TheCIAandJeffBezosBetonQuantumComputing."MITTechnologyReview

4Oct2012,Web.1Apr.2014. Veritasium.HowDoesaQuantumComputerWork?Youtubevideo,17Jun2013.Web.3Apr 2014.