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D-Wave Launches Free 'Leap' Quantum Computing Service (ieee.org)
talonyx writes: D-Wave Systems, the contentious but scrappy maker of quantum annealing processors, has launched a cloud-based platform where developers can sign up for free and run problems on their quantum processor unit (QPU). There's an in-depth set of demos, documentation, and an open-source Python SDK to look at. "Leap is the latest addition to the quantum cloud -- services that virtualize quantum computing for almost anyone with a computer and a broadband connection to use," reports IEEE Spectrum. "Leap allows anyone to sign up, giving them one minute of time on a cloud-connected 2000Q each month. That might not sound like much, but a key advantage of quantum computing is to be able to solve in milliseconds problems like factoring large numbers, optimizing routes, or calculating molecular structures that could take traditional computers days or weeks."
"D-Wave estimates that each user's free minute of quantum computing time should be enough to run between 400 and 4,000 jobs each month," the report adds. "If developers want more, the company will charge commercial users $2,000 for one hour of access each month."
"D-Wave estimates that each user's free minute of quantum computing time should be enough to run between 400 and 4,000 jobs each month," the report adds. "If developers want more, the company will charge commercial users $2,000 for one hour of access each month."
Theorising that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished...
You would need to reformulate the hash search as a QUBO problem (Quadratic unconstrained binary optimization).
This is probably impossible. Even if such a mapping existed, chances are it would require a level of connectivity and number of qubits far in excess of what the current chip provides.
Has D-Wave been demonstrably able to handle even one problem faster than a classical computer?
And the device has been shown to demonstrate some qualities in simulating quantum materials https://www.dwavesys.com/sites...
There are some solvers that make use of the D-Wave's limited connectivity (which will improve in the near future) like the HFS solver. These will become less effective as the connectivity improves
Overall, there may be a chance there isn't any single problem that a properly designe algorithm couldn't solve in an equivalent time with decently fast hardware.
Yes and no:
Pakin says his team are believers in D-Wave’s potential, even though they admit its systems might not yet offer performance improvements except in very narrow cases. He also explains that D-Wave's computers don't necessarily provide the most efficient answers to an optimization problem—or even a correct one. Instead, the idea is to provide solutions that are probably good, if not perfect solutions, and to do it very quickly. That narrows the D-Wave machines' usefulness to optimization problems that need to be solved fast but don't need to be perfect. That could include many artificial intelligence applications.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.