Quantum computing, please explain
- Thread starter Colbaker
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Simply. normal computer chips can send electrical signals as a "1" or a "0", quantum computers can send data as a "1", "0" or a "1" and a "0". Which makes it able to compute far larger quantities of data.
That's how i understand it, I may well be wrong!
That's how i understand it, I may well be wrong!
Part of the idea with qubits is that rather than slogging over a solution by testing each possibility individually (as is traditionally done) all possibilities can be probed simultaneously giving an immediate solution. I am doubtful whether they will ever find their way into the home environment if they even get them working in the first place as the equipment needs liquid nitrogen or helium cooling to stop thermal photons destroying the qubits.
A little googling and it seems we are on the cusp of having a quantum processor which is a good start to complete quantum computing, As said a quantum processor uses quantum bits or qubits to process data, the difference is that it can act as both a 0 and 1 at the same time, the issues they are having is with error control, as there is a lot more chance in errors occurring at a quantum level more parity is required.
Currently they have a processor that is 4 qubits in size and soon they expect it to be 10, it is expected that The performance will scale rapidly with the amount of qubits.
Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811199
That's for processors, this should also mean that storage capacitywill be greatly improved, if they ever find a way to use quantum entanglement to transfer data and can control the outcome then that will change everything, quantum entanglement is when I particle has a link with another particle, these particles could be millions of miles apart, when one particle is changed the other one of the entangled pair also changes at exactly the same time, imagine a computer using this method to transfer data internally and instantly, also imagine if this could be used for transferring data over the Internet, computing would have no bottlenecks and all data will be instant.
Currently they have a processor that is 4 qubits in size and soon they expect it to be 10, it is expected that The performance will scale rapidly with the amount of qubits.
Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811199
That's for processors, this should also mean that storage capacitywill be greatly improved, if they ever find a way to use quantum entanglement to transfer data and can control the outcome then that will change everything, quantum entanglement is when I particle has a link with another particle, these particles could be millions of miles apart, when one particle is changed the other one of the entangled pair also changes at exactly the same time, imagine a computer using this method to transfer data internally and instantly, also imagine if this could be used for transferring data over the Internet, computing would have no bottlenecks and all data will be instant.
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There's some interesting research going on looking to develop storage materials that can store data in 3 different states (as in 0, 1 and 2, instead of just 0 and 1). Obviously this would need a lot of different software to work with, but it would lead to huge increases in data capacity.
They would have to go from binary 0,1 to decimal 0 to 9, I believe some super computers can do this now anyway.
I only really know anything about the hardware side of it, how they adapt it for use is up to them!
This video will help explain
(Been posted here before I think)
And of course there's Schrödinger's cat. To help understand it basically means something can be in two different states (or more) when not observed (watched/looked at/monitored). Once observed everything acts as expected which is the problem they have or did have with quantum computing. If done under the right conditions a bit or qubit can be both 0 and 1. You could also think of it as multiple dimensions where you might have done the opposite of what you did in this universe.
Well, I think that's what it's all about but I'm probably wrong.
(Been posted here before I think)And of course there's Schrödinger's cat. To help understand it basically means something can be in two different states (or more) when not observed (watched/looked at/monitored). Once observed everything acts as expected which is the problem they have or did have with quantum computing. If done under the right conditions a bit or qubit can be both 0 and 1. You could also think of it as multiple dimensions where you might have done the opposite of what you did in this universe.
Well, I think that's what it's all about but I'm probably wrong.
This video will help explain
And of course there's Schrödinger's cat. To help understand it basically means something can be in two different states (or more) when not observed (watched/looked at/monitored). Once observed everything acts as expected which is the problem they have or did have with quantum computing. If done under the right conditions a bit or qubit can be both 0 and 1. You could also think of it as multiple dimensions where you might have done the opposite of what you did in this universe.
Well, I think that's what it's all about but I'm probably wrong.
That video doesn't really have much to do with actual quantum computing, yes it's a phenomenon of quantum effects, but it doesn't explain much about how it applies to computing
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realistically though its not like every computer is going to be linked this way to every other computer but more like once you hit part of the internet backbone then the transfer of data would be instantaneous. You'll still have some latency from say your home to telehouse north or wherever and some more latency at the other end.
I'd wager that one of the first real world applications of this technology will be for high frequency trading firms.
AFAIK quantum computing can explore a lot more possibilities in a short amount of time. Meaning that most current encryption protocols would be obsolete, and the only safe way to encrypt something would be to use quantum computing. I *think* it uses the idea that electrons are both a particle and a wave, and uses observation to alter the state of electrons (as in, if you observe them as a particle, that's what they are, and cannot be a wave at the same time, and vice versa) and not observing them to give the superposition state.
I'm probably wrong, but that's what we have learned in the encryption modules at uni.
I'm probably wrong, but that's what we have learned in the encryption modules at uni.