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Research Team Makes Quantum Computing Progress
Timogen writes to tell us Wired is reporting that a research team is reporting that they have found a way to "controllably couple qubits" bringing us one step closer to quantum computing. "In classical computer science, bits -- or binary digits -- hold data encoded as ones and zeros. In quantum computing, data is measured in qubits, or quantum bits. As such, a qubit can have three possible states -- one, zero or a "superposition" of one and zero. This unique property theoretically makes quantum computing able to solve large-scale calculations that would dwarf today's supercomputers. But qubits in isolation are not very useful. It's only when they can be connected to one another that large-scale processing becomes possible."
Would this not describe an analog computer?
How about "Yes, No, Mu"?
It's appropriately Zen, and overloads the symbol for the muon to the delight and confusion of everyone (and isn't delight and confusion what quantum physics about in the first place?), which makes it even more appropriately Zen.
Kind of. But then you can still create qubits in entangled states, like, upon measuring two qubits you get always one "1" and one "0" , but you don't and cannot know which is which until you measure. You can't do that with an analog computer.
Or Red, Green, and Blue.
Or Yes, No, Cancel.
A, B, Both.
It's a third state. We can interpret only in context. Heck, not everything can even be expressed as having 3 states. (On, off, no power?) And many can be expressed as having more.
Ultimately it's just another set of physics which can represent a state machine. It seems that the progress made is that a quantum 'gate' can be created. However, lacking any kind of timing mechanism (anyone know a periodic oscillater than can produce microwave radiation?), it seems that it's a while before we'll see a self-contained quantum 'gate array'.
"Please describe the scientific nature of the 'whammy'" - Agent Scully
...a qubit can have three possible states -- one, zero or a "superposition" of one and zero. This unique property theoretically makes quantum computing able to solve large-scale calculations that would dwarf today's supercomputers. Trying to understand this claim better, I followed wired's link to this article, which states:
...in a QC, the bit is upgraded to a quantum bit, or qubit, that doesn't need to choose between 1 and 0. It can be both at once. As a result, a memory array of n qubits can represent every number between 1 and 2^n simultaneously. A QC's capacity doubles with each additional qubit. It may be humbling that the world's largest QC is currently only 7 qubits in size, and can barely process single-digit numbers. But a QC of 333 qubits would be able to perform operations instantaneously on every number between 1 and a googol (10^100), a value considerably larger than the number of atoms in the universe. To carry out addition or multiplication on every positive integer between 0 and 10^100 would take one of today's supercomputers several quadrillion years as it marched through one number at a time. But a QC would perform the calculation all at once, and it'd be done. I can (kinda) understand how n qubits can store every number between 1 and 2^n, and I can (very vaguely) imagine how that allows one to perform calculations on all those numbers simultaneously. Assuming all of that is true and good, what would one do with the output? For example, let's say I take sqrt(1 to 2^n) and get glurg as a result. Does glurg really hold the sqrt of all those numbers, and if so, how do I access them individually?Try reading the schematics to the Atari 2600 sometime. Tristate logic all over the bloody place. (At least, to my poor, untrained eye.) Tristate is still used, but almost always in support of digital-binary logic. I don't think there's too much interest in creating a trinary logic computer. Such a device would be more trouble than it's worth.
As usual, Wikipedia has an article.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
An AC is an observer though.. hmm This also triggers another question in my mind: does a falling tree make sound if an AC is the only witness?!?