David Hayward simultaneously tries and fails to understand quantum processing at the same time
It’s an amazing thing that in our lifetimes, we will have witnessed the birth of the home computer, its evolution to more powerful and more amazing handheld devices, through to the inevitable invention of the first personal, desktop quantum computer. At least that’s what we think may happen.
The quantum desktop computer is still quite a way off. There are examples of quantum processors being used for small experiments, usually in universities around the world. Some companies are also using the first generation of quantum computers for big number experiments and to see just what advantages a quantum computer has over a more traditional super computer.
D-Wave Systems Inc., for example, created the D-Wave quantum computer as more of an experiment in computing rather than something Nasa would use to discover new planets beyond our own solar system. The D-Wave 1, as it’s now known, used a SQUID, a superconducting qubit or quantum transistor that uses different voltages to encode two states called +1 and -1 as minute magnetic fields that can either be pointing up or down. The qubit can then take these states and use quantum mechanics to access the states to be either, in binary computing terms, 0, 1 or 0 and 1, or all of them at once.
If you’re still with us, and we won’t blame you if you’re not, D-Wave 1 had a 128-qubit chipset, which when fully used under quantum mechanical states turned out to be several times faster than a traditional super computer. Now, though, D-Wave Systems has the D-Wave 2 and boasts a machine that has just recently (June 22nd) broken the 1,000-qubit barrier with a quantum processor that has 1,152-qubits. In terms of speeds, this makes the D-Wave 2 about 300,000 times faster than D-Wave 1 and pretty much 4,000 times faster than a super computer cluster.
We won’t get into how quantum mechanics work at this point in time (or maybe we will and won’t at the same time), but suffice to say it’s pretty weird stuff. What we’re interested in is what exactly we could expect from a quantum computer. What can it do for us? Will it be able to play Crysis in 4K without any signs of lag? Will it forecast next week’s lottery numbers? Well, we did some intense research (read: we Googled it) into what the quantum desktop computer will bring to our homes.
0, 1 And 01 Or 10… Or Something…
We obviously don’t have quantum desktop computers yet. In about 15 years’ time, though, we probably will, so what will happen when we boot up Windows 99 with our quantum mechanical PC?
Gaming
The theoretical power behind a quantum computer will allow enormous numbers to be calculated in fractions of a fraction of a second. Really fast, in other words. Gaming therefore, is basically lots of mathematical numbers being represented in a graphical form – more or less.
To compute and draw a mountain and the background of the game and still allow the player to walk up to that mountain many miles away while being able to grind out all the other data and environmental factors takes some processing power. That’s why the latest, biggest games need some serious PC performance.
There are other factors in use with a gam,e though, but since they all work around a processing unit, be that CPU or GPU, then a quantum processor or QPU will naturally be able to do those things faster, using less power and with less heat generated. This will, in the theory of others, lead to games where entire universes are generated for a player to wander around.
Science
Moving away from the theoretical quantum desktop PC for the moment, institutions and companies such as D-Wave are already using quantum computers to enhance drugs and to combat diseases and cancers.
The vast computing power in a qubit can manipulate amino acids into all manner of enhanced drugs to help medical research. Researchers from The Scripps Research Institue (TSRI) have, through the use of a quantum computer, created a new class of drugs called Senolytics. What these new drugs will do is effectively slow down the aging process in humans, which in turn will treat age-related illnesses.
It doesn’t mean Walt Disney, who we all know is secretly cryogenically frozen in some deep underground vault, will suddenly rise from his frosty grave thanks to quantum-inspired drug programmes. But it does mean that, as TSRI puts it, the human lifespan could be more than doubled in the next 20 to 30 years.
Space Stuff
NASA boffins are regularly using quantum computers to help shift through the vast amounts of data obtained from the many telescopes in orbit and around the globe. This wealth of data is being used to help identify new planetary systems and other Earth-like planets.
Also, Nasa is conducting experiments, in computer controlled environments, for the next generation of space propulsion. Using quantum computers to help maintain the environment and measure the output of the experiments mean Nasa can build more efficient and effective propulsion technologies to help send people off to Mars.
CERN
The Large Hadron Collider deals with some pretty big numbers. Every second a petabyte of data is created when they send a couple of tangerines around the LHC under the Swiss countryside.
To help crunch these numbers into something manageable, the scientists at CERN use quantum computing to spot the unpronounceable list of God-Particles that cause them to go all giddy with joy. It’s fascinating stuff, although a little headache inducing.
Virtual Reality Or The Matrix?
Back to our theoretical quantum PC. New Scientist looked at whether our universe is actually a quantum computer routine running in some sort of Matrix-like super-quantum computer.
Decoding Reality by notable physicist Vlatko Vedral delves deeper into this theory and supposes that the quantum computer of the next generation of users will be able to construct entire universes, complete with billions of individuals and trillions of life forms in a virtual reality setting.
From our point of view, gaming would be beyond words , but also historians could accurately recreate moments in history. Fancy witnessing Pompeii, anyone? Or perhaps the first moments our ancestors crawled out of the primordial soup? According to Vedral, all this will be possible and could already be the reason why the universe exists and explains the fact two matched qubits will always be in the same state no matter what distance separates them.
Brain-ache
We’re off to soak our heads in a bowl of cold water now, but before we do we’ll leave you with this snippet from the Institute of Advanced Studies:
“If one particle can be described by two variables, then to describe the most general state of n particles, we need 2n variables. If we have 100 particles, we need 2100 variables, which is roughly 1 with 30 zeros.”
Which is why we need quantum computing.