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Scientists Dubious of Quantum Computing Claims

Posted by Zonk on from the little-salt-with-your-quantum dept.

Dollaz wrote with a link to the International Business Times, which questions the authenticity of D-Wave's Quantum computing. We discussed the 'Sudoku playing' computer yesterday, but scientists in the field have expressed a lot of distrust of the company's findings. The machine was not available for inspection during or after the demo, and even if the technology was working as intended there is some doubt that it can be scaled. The article points out that "notwithstanding lofty claims in the company's press release about creating the world's first commercial quantum computer, D-Wave Chief Executive Herb Martin emphasized that the machine is not a true quantum computer and is instead a kind of special-purpose machine that uses some quantum mechanics to solve problems." Good to see people in the field questioning 'breakthroughs'.

7 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Thats my problem with the press release, too: by imsabbel · · Score: 3, Informative

    "instead a kind of special-purpose machine that uses some quantum mechanics to solve problems."

    Well, _any_ mosfet based transitor uses quantum mechanics to solve problems (you get real problems explaining band-formation and the influence of substrate doting classically). That statement is trimmed down to be as slippery as possible.

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    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  2. So, is this the right place.... by FooAtWFU · · Score: 3, Informative
    Is this the right place to plug my animated JavaScript sudoku solver? Guaranteed 100% Non-Vaporware! Inspect it all you like!

    :)

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    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  3. Re:Well DUH by pclminion · · Score: 3, Informative

    Don't confuse the uncertainty of quantum collapse with the uncertainty of the Uncertainty Principle. They are two different concepts. The uncertainty principle derives from a mathematical truth (it would be true even if the world was not governed by quantum physics), whereas the uncertainty associated with wavefunction collapse is a true quantum effect unrelated to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

    (The Uncertainty Principle is a consequence of the fact that momentum and position are dual-spaces of each other -- similar "uncertainty" principles arise, for the same reasons, in more mundane fields such as signal processing)

  4. Re:He kind of has a point... by TMacPhail · · Score: 4, Informative

    I went to the Vancouver demo of this yesterday and it is pretty clear why they couldn't have it available for inspection at an event like this. It is located in a specially shielded room in their lab to reduce signal noise with a cooling system that cools a portion of the computer down to 4mK (extremely close to absolute zero).

    Besides, even if I or anyone else there was able to inspect it, do you really think that we could look at it and say "hey, I don't see any quantum effects"

  5. Re:Reply button missing by orkysoft · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's a Reply link in the floating thingy.

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    I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
  6. Re:Well DUH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Ack....
    bloody url didn't work
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_Principle

  7. Quantum Computing Blogs by Dr.+Hugh+Everett+III · · Score: 2, Informative


    See also the Quantum Pontiff