Many people may not know it, but we live in a time where the first quantum computers have been created - and they're pretty damn cool. Why? Because while regular bits are limited to only two boring values, QBITs can take near infinite values and operate singularly or in harmony with each other. This outstanding property gives rise to a new kind of algorithms (and a lot of fun!). Follow me on a journey from Zuses Z3 computer and Schrödingers cat to supercooled quantum processors and parallel universes - no PhD in physics required.
111. The primary data structures employed in the 49-qubit
simulation required just over 4.5 Terabytes of main
memory to store results,while for the 56-qubit
simulation they required just over 3.0 Terabytes. In
contrast, existing state-of-the-art techniques would
have required 8 Petabytes and 1 Exabyte,
respectively.
Edwin Pednault, John A. Gunnels, Giacomo Nannicini, Lior Horesh, Thomas
Magerlein, Edgar Solomonik, and Robert Wisnieff. „Breaking the 49-Qubit Barrier
in the Simulation of Quantum Circuits“, October 17th, 2017, arXiv:1710.05867
123. Media sources
• Image of Niels Bohr - The American Institute of Physics credits the photo to AB Lagrelius & Westphal, which is the Swedish
company used by the Nobel Foundation for most photos of its book series Les Prix Nobel. (Niels Bohr's Nobel Prize biography, from
1922) [Public domain], available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANiels_Bohr.jpg
• Image of Karl Werner Heisenberg provided by the German Federal Archive under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license, available at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild183-R57262,_Werner_Heisenberg.jpg
• Image of a “circuit board brain” published by pixabay user GDJ under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/anatomie-biologie-gehirn-gedanken-1751201/; this image was adapted for the other brain images
• Image of mathematical formuli used as a texture for the maths brain published by pixabay user geralt under the CC0 license,
available at https://pixabay.com/de/mathematik-formel-physik-schule-989124/
• Image of lava lamps used as a texture for the physics brain published by flickr user Dean Hochman as “lava lamps” under the CC BY
2.0 license, available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanhochman/16136876840/
• Original video of a spinning spiral galaxy published as “Differential rotation in a spiral galaxy” by Flickr user “äquinoktium“ under
the CC BY 2.0 licence, available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/44080248@N03/4304580867/, cropped, shortened and slowed
down by me
• Image of a cryostat containing an IBM Q comercial quantum processor taken by Andy Aaron, provided by IBM Research under the
CC BY-ND 2.0 license, available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ibm_research_zurich/34662903516/in/album-
72157680875401173/
• Image of an IBM 50Q system; Credit: IBM. Courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not
permitted. Retrieved from https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/53376.wss
• Imabe of a 7 qubit chip; Credit: Kandala et al.; Nature. Courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use
not permitted. Retrieved from https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/photo/53138.wss
• Image of Albert Einstein provided by pixabay user OpenClipart-Vectors under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/albert-albert-einstein-einstein-1295413/ and modified by me
• Image of “Uncle Sam” provided by pixabay user Clker-Free-Vector-Images under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/onkel-sam-hut-sterne-304887/ and modified by me
• Image of error correction provided by pixabay user OpenClipart-Vectors under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/pr%C3%BCfung-hausaufgaben-korrektur-154709/
• Image of happy jumping people provided by pixabay user mohamed_hassan under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/silhouette-tanzen-springen-menschen-3095150/
• Image of an atom used as a texture for the physics brain published by pixabay user Gorkhs under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/atom-logo-wissenschaft-1472657/
• Image of the Nyhavn district of Copenhagen published by pixabay user skeeze under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/nyhavn-landkreis-wasser-reflexion-1119123/
• Tweet by Venkat Subramaniam published on January 14th 2018 on Twitter, available at
https://twitter.com/venkat_s/status/952624222014074881
• Image of the Zuse Z3 in the ”Deutsches Museum München” provided by Venusianer at the German language Wikipedia under the
CC-BY-SA-3.0 license, available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AZ3_Deutsches_Museum.JPG
Image of Earth published by pixabay user qimono under the CC0 license, available at https://pixabay.com/de/welt-globus-erde-
planeten-blau-1303628/
• Image of zeros and ones provided by pixabay user geralt under the CC0 license, available at https://pixabay.com/de/bin%C3%A4r-
digitalisierung-null-eins-2007350/
• Image of transistors provided by pixabay user PublicDomainPictures under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/transistoren-transistor-218835/
• Image of a landscape provided by pixabay user Jaki0815 under the CC0, available at https://pixabay.com/de/rotwandhaus-rotwand-
alpen-mountains-975348/
• Image of Edwin Schrödinger provided by the Nobel foundation under public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, available at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AErwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger_(1933).jpg
• Image of the cosmos provided by pixabay user geralt under the CC0 license, available at https://pixabay.com/de/universum-
himmel-sterne-weltall-2742113/
• Image of mathematical symbols published by pixabay user geralt under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/mathematik-zahlen-algebra-zeichen-1044091/
• Image of a computer, a tablet and a smartphone provided by pixabay user Maiconfz under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/computer-pc-tablette-telefon-1271863/
• Image of the Google Bristlecone quantum chip retrieved from https://research.googleblog.com/2018/03/a-preview-of-bristlecone-
googles-new.html and property of Google Research. All rights reserved.
• Image of the “Oops”-Sign provided by pixabay user cripi under the CC0 license, available at https://pixabay.com/de/fehler-404-
panel-aufmerksamkeit-3060993/
• Image of a computer monitor with a code symbol provided by pixabay user Krzysztof-m under the CC0 license, available at
https://pixabay.com/de/programmierung-internet-webseite-3173456/
124. Licences used
• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Unported (CC-BY-SA 3.0) available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
sa/3.0/legalcode
• Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
(CC BY 2.0) available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
/legalcode
• Creative Commons CC0 (CC0) available at
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/z
ero/1.0/legalcode
• Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0
Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nd/2.0/legalcode
• Typodermic “Desktop License”
explained at
http://typodermicfonts.com/lice
nse/; full legal text available
within the downloaded ZIP file
125. Further sources
• Jeff John Roberts. Breaking Bitcoin With a Quantum
Computer. 2018-01-06, Fortune.com.
http://fortune.com/2018/01/06/breaking-bitcoin-
cybersaturday/
• Darrel Etherington. Volkswagen and Google to bring
quantum computing benefits to cars. 2017-11-08,
techcrunch.com.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/08/volkswagen-and-
google-to-bring-quantum-computing-benefits-to-cars/
• B. P. Lanyon, J. D. Whitfield, G. G. Gillett, M. E. Goggin, M. P.
Almeida, I. Kassal, J. D. Biamonte, M. Mohseni, B. J.
Powell, M. Barbieri, A. Aspuru-Guzik & A. G. White. Towards
quantum chemistry on a quantum computer. 2010-11-10,
Nature Chemistry volume2, pages106–111.
doi:10.1038/nchem.483
https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.483
• Lisa Zyga. How quantum effects could improve artificial
intelligence. 2016-10-17, Phys.org.
https://phys.org/news/2016-10-quantum-effects-artificial-
intelligence.html
• A. V. Frolov. Can a quantum computer be applied for
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(2017) 42: 545.
https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373917090011
• Amrita Jayakumar. Can quantum computing change the
world? This start-up is betting on it. 2015-05-04,
WashingtonPost.com.
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betting-on-it/2015/05/03/e4681b48-ecfe-11e4-a55f-
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https://www.nas.nasa.gov/projects/quantum.html
• Nicole Kobie. The quantum clock is ticking on encryption –
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• Julian Kelly. A Preview of Bristlecone, Google‘s New Quantum
Processor. 2018-03-05, research.googleblog.com.
https://research.googleblog.com/2018/03/a-preview-of-
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Editor's Notes
Replica of a Zuse Z3, originally built in 1941
Computers since then work with 0 and 1…
..except they don‘t.
They need anything with two possible states.
Today: Mostly transistors
Depending on input either lets a big current through or not.
Niels Bohr <- Werner Heisenberg (assistant, Copenhagen, 1920s)
Left:
Niels Bohr
Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum theory
Right:
Werner Karl Heisenberg
Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics in 1932
Also founder of the uncertainty principle, which is named after him
Main contributors to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
Bohr & Heisenberg developed great parts of Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
Radioactive particle
Radioactive particle
Decay = emit radiation (here alpha particle)
Radioactive particle
Radioactive particle
Radioactive particle
Erwin Schrödinger
Radioactive half-life
Radioactive half-life
Radioactive half-life
Radioactive half-life
Radioactive half-life
Radioactive half-life
We have:
Universe
Schrödinger’s cat
Quantum effect
We have:
Universe
Schrödinger’s cat
Quantum effect
-> Zombie cat?
No.
Universe splits.
Another quantum effect?
Universe splits.
Another quantum effect?
It splits again.
It splits again.
And again.
May notice: Many dead cats.
And again.
May notice: Many dead cats.
Quantum system
Can be |0>
Can be |1>
Can be arbetrary value on sphere
Quantum system
Can be |0>
Can be |1>
Can be arbetrary value on sphere
Quantum system
Can be |0>
Can be |1>
Can be arbetrary value on sphere
IBM Research Staff Member Katie Pooley, an Applied Physics PhD from Harvard who joined IBM in 2015, at the Thomas J Watson Research Center, is a process integrator on the IBM Q team. In the photo, Pooley is examining a cryostat with the new prototype of a commercial quantum processor inside.
IBM 7 Qubit Device
IBM scientists have developed a new approach to simulate molecules on a quantum computer that may one day help revolutionize chemistry and materials science. The scientists successfully used six qubits on a purpose-built seven-qubit quantum processor to address the molecular structure problem for beryllium hydride (BeH2) – the largest molecule simulated on a quantum computer to date. The results demonstrate a path of exploration for near-term quantum systems to enhance our understanding of complex chemical reactions that could lead to practical applications. (Credit: Kandala et al.; Nature)
IBM 7 Qubit Device
IBM scientists have developed a new approach to simulate molecules on a quantum computer that may one day help revolutionize chemistry and materials science. The scientists successfully used six qubits on a purpose-built seven-qubit quantum processor to address the molecular structure problem for beryllium hydride (BeH2) – the largest molecule simulated on a quantum computer to date. The results demonstrate a path of exploration for near-term quantum systems to enhance our understanding of complex chemical reactions that could lead to practical applications. (Credit: Kandala et al.; Nature)
And again.
May notice: Many dead cats.
And again.
May notice: Many dead cats.
IBM 50Q System
An IBM cryostat wired for a 50 qubit system. (Credit: IBM)
Google Bristlecone
Announced on March 3rd 2018 (Last Monday!)
72 qubits
Low error rates
Left blank intentionally
Most binding: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/