Category Archives: Quantum Computing

The promise of quantum computers is that certain computational tasks might be executed exponentially faster on a quantum processor than on a classical processor.

Quantum computing is a beautiful fusion of quantum physics with computer science. It incorporates some of the most stunning ideas of physics from the twentieth century into an entirely new way of thinking about computation. Quantum computers have the potential to resolve problems of a high complexity and magnitude across many different industries and application, including finance, transportation, chemicals, and cybersecurity. Solving the impossible in a few hours of computing time.

Quantum computing is often in the news: China teleported a qubit from earth to a satellite; Shors algorithm has put our current encryption methods at risk; quantum key distribution will make encryption safe again; Grovers algorithm will speed up data searches. But what does all this really mean? How does it all work?

Todays computers operate in a very straightforward fashion: they manipulate a limited set of data with an algorithm and give you an answer. Quantum computers are more complicated. After multiple units of data are input into qubits, the qubits are manipulated to interact with other qubits, allowing for several calculations to be done simultaneously. Thats where quantum computers are a lot faster than todays machines.

Quantum computers have four fundamental capabilities that differentiate them from todays classical computers:

All computations involve inputting data, manipulating it according to certain rules, and then outputting the final answer. For classical computations, the bit is the basic unit of data. For quantum computation, this unit is the quantum bit usually shortened to qubit.

The basic unit of quantum computing is a qubit. A classical bit is either 0 or 1. If its 0 and we measure it, we get 0. If its 1 and we measure 1, we get 1. In both cases the bit remains unchanged. The standard example is an electrical switch that can be either on or off. The situation is totally different for qubits. Qubits are volatile. A qubit can be in one of an infinite number of states a superposition of both 0 and 1 but when we measure it, as in the classical case, we just get one of two values, either 0 or 1. Qubits can also become entangled. In fact, the act of measurement changes the qubit. When we make a measurement of one of them, it affects the state of the other. Whats more, they interact with other qubits. In fact, these interactions are what make it possible to conduct multiple calculations at once.

Nobody really knows quite how or why entanglement works. It even baffled Einstein, who famously described it as spooky action at a distance. But its key to the power of quantum computers. In a conventional computer, doubling the number of bits doubles its processing power. But thanks to entanglement, adding extra qubits to a quantum machine produces an exponential increase in its number-crunching ability.

These three things superposition, measurement, and entanglement are the key quantum mechanical ideas. Controlling these interactions, however, is very complicated. The volatility of qubits can cause inputs to be lost or altered, which can throw off the accuracy of results. And creating a computer of meaningful scale would require hundreds of thousands of millions of qubits to be connected coherently. The few quantum computers that exist today can handle nowhere near that number. But the good news is were getting very, very close.

Quantum computing and classical computer are not two distinct disciplines. Quantum computing is the more fundamental form of computing anything that can be computed classically can be computed on a quantum computer. The qubit is the basic unit of computation, not the bit. Computation, in its essence, really means quantum computing. A qubit can be represented by the spin of an electron or the polarization of a photon.

In 2019 Google achieved a level of quantum supremacy when they reported the use of a processor with programmable superconducting qubits to create quantum states on 54 qubits, corresponding to a computational state-space of dimension 253(about 1016). This incredible achievement was slightly short of their mission goal for creating quantum states of 72 qubits. What is so special about this number? Classical computers can simulate quantum computers if the quantum computer doesnt have too many qubits, but as the number of qubits increases we reach the point where that is no longer possible.

There are 8 possible three-bit combinations: 000,001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111. The number 8 comes from 23. There are two choices for the first bit, two for the second and two for the third, and we might multiple these three 2s together. If instead of bits we switch to qubits, each of these 8 three-bit strings is associated with a basis vector, so the vector space is 8-dimensional. If we have 72 qubits, the number of basis elements is 2. This is about 4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is a large number and is considered to be the point at which classical computers cannot simulate quantum computers. Once quantum computers have more than 72 or so qubits we truly enter the age of quantum supremacy when quantum computers can do computations that are beyond the ability of any classical computer.

To provide a little more perspective, lets consider a machine with 300 qubits. This doesnt seem an unreasonable number of the not too distant future. But 2300 is an enormous number. Its more than the number of elementary particles in the known universe. A computation using 300 qubits would be working with 2300 basis elements.

Some calculations required for the effective simulation of real-life scenarios are simply beyond the capability of classical computers whats known as intractable problems. Quantum computers, with their huge computational power, are ideally suited to solving these problems. Indeed, some problems, like factoring, are hard on a classical computer, but are easy on a quantum computer. This creates a world of opportunities, across almost every aspect of modern life.

Healthcare: classical computers are limited in terms of size and complexity of molecules they can simulate and compare (an essential process of early drug development). Quantum computers will allow much larger molecules to be simulated. At the same time, researchers will be able to model and simulate interactions between drugs and all 20,000+ proteins encoded in the human genome, leading to greater advancements in pharmacology.

Finance: one potential application is algorithmic trading using complex algorithms to automatically trigger share dealings based on a wide variety of market variables. The advantages, especially for high-volume transactions, are significant. Another application is fraud detection. Like diagnostics in healthcare, fraud detection is reliant upon pattern recognition. Quantum computers could deliver a significant improvement in machine learning capabilities; dramatically reducing the time taken to train a neural network and improving the detection rate.

Logistics: Improved data analysis and modelling will enable a wide range of industries to optimize workflows associated with transport, logistics and supply-chain management. The calculation and recalculation of optimal routes could impact on applications as diverse as traffic management, fleet operations, air traffic control, freight and distribution.

It is, of course, impossible to predict the long-term impact of quantum computing with any accuracy. Quantum computing is now in its infancy, and the comparison to the first computers seems apt. The machines that have been constructed so far tend to be large and not very powerful, and they often involve superconductors that need cooled to extremely low temperatures. To minimize the interaction of quantum computers with the environment, they are always protected from light and heat. They are shieled against electromagnetic radiation, and they are cooled. One thing that can happen in cold places is that certain materials become superconductors they lose all electrical resistance and superconductors have quantum properties that can be exploited.

Many countries are experimenting with small quantum networks using optic fiber. There is the potential of connecting these via satellite and being able to form a worldwide quantum network. This work is of great interest to financial institutions. One early impressive result involves a Chinese satellite that is devoted to quantum experiments. Its named Micius after a Chinese philosopher who did work in optics. A team in China connected to a team in Austria the first time that intercontinental quantum key distribution (QKD) had been achieved. Once the connection was secured, the teams sent pictures to one another. The Chinese team sent the Austrians a picture of Micius, and the Austrians sent a picture of Schrodinger to the Chinese.

To actually make practical quantum computers you need to solve a number of problems, the most serious being decoherence the problem of your qubit interacting with something from the environment that is not part of the computation. You need to set a qubit to an initial state and keep it in that state until you need to use it. Their quantum state is extremely fragile. The slightest vibration or change in temperature disturbances known as noise in quantum-speak can cause them to tumble out of superposition before their job has been properly done. Thats why researchers are doing the best to protect qubits from the outside world in supercooled fridges and vacuum chambers.

Alan Turing is one of the fathers of the theory of computation. In his landmark paper of 1936 he carefully thought about computation. He considered what humans did as they performed computations and broke it down to its most elemental level. He showed that a simple theoretical machine, which we now call a Turing machine, could carry out any algorithm. But remember, Turing was analyzing computation based on what humans do. With quantum computation the focus changes from how humans compute to how the universe computes. Therefore, we should think of quantum computation as not a new type of computation but as the discovery of the true nature of computation.

More:
Kangaroo Court: Quantum Computing Thinking on the Future - JD Supra

Europe has always been excellent in academic research, but over the past few decades commercializing research projects has been slow compared to international competition. This is starting to change with quantum technologies. As one of the largest efforts in Europe and worldwide, Germany announced 2 Billion funding into quantum programs in June 2020, from which 120 Million are invested in this current round of research grants.

Today, IQM announced a Quantum project consortium that includes Europe's leading startups (ParityQC, IQM), industry leaders (Infineon Technologies), research centers (Forschungszentrum Jlich),supercomputing centers (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre), and academia (Freie Universitt Berlin) has been awarded 12.4 Million from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Announcement in German).

The scope of the project is to accelerate commercialization through an innovative co-design concept. This project focuses on application-specific quantum processors, which have the potential to create a fastlane to quantum advantage. The digital-analog concept used to operate the processors will further lay the foundation for commercially viable quantum computers. This project will run for four years and aims to develop a 54-qubit quantum processor.

The project is intended to support the European FET Flagship project EU OpenSuperQ, announced in 2018 which is aimed at designing, building, and operating a quantum information processing system of up to 100 qubits. Deploying digital-analog quantum computing, this consortium adds a new angle to the OpenSuperQ project and widens its scope. With efforts from Munich, Berlin and Jlich, as well as Parity QC from Austria, the project builds bridges and seamlessly integrates into the European quantum landscape.

"The grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germanyis a huge recognition of our unique co-design approach for quantum computers. Last year when we established our office in Munich, this was one of our key objectives. The concept allows us to become a system integrator for full-stack quantum computers by bringing together all the relevant players. As Europe's leading startup in quantum technologies, this gives us confidence to further invest in Germany and other European countries" said Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO of IQM Quantum Computers.

As European technology leader, Germany is taking several steps to lead the quantum technology race. An important role of such leadership is to bring together the European startups, industry, research and academic partners. This project will give the quantum landscape in Germany an accelerated push and will create a vibrant quantum ecosystem in the region for the future.

Additional Quotes:

"DAQC is an important project for Germany and Europe. It enables us to take a leading role in the area of quantum technologies. It also allows us to bring quantum computing into one of the prime academic supercomputing centres to more effectively work on the important integration of high-performance computing and quantum computing. We are looking forward to a successful collaboration," said Prof. DrMartinSchulz, Member of the Board of Directors, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ).

"The path towards scalable and fully programmable quantum computing will be the parallelizability of gates and building with reduced complexity in order to ensure manageable qubit control. Our ParityQC architecture is the blueprint for a fully parallelizable quantum computer, which comes with the associated ParityOS operating system. With the team of extraordinary members of the DAQC consortium this will allow us to tackle the most pressing and complex industry-relevant optimization problems." saidMagdalena Hauser & Wolfgang Lechner, CEOs & Co-founder ParityQC

"We are looking forward to exploring and realizing a tight connection between hardware and applications, and having DAQC quantum computers as a compatible alternative within the OpenSuperQ laboratory. Collaborations like this across different states, and including both public and private partners, have the right momentum to move quantum computing in Germany forward." saidProf. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch, Director, Institute for Quantum Computing Analytics, Forschungszentrum Jlich

"At Infineon, we are looking forward to collaborating with top-class scientists and leading start-ups in the field of quantum computing in Europe. We must act now if we in Germany and Europe do not want to become solely dependent on American or Asian know-how in this future technology area. We are very glad to be part of this highly innovative project and happy to contribute with our expertise in scaling and manufacturing processes." saidDr.Sebastian Luber, Senior Director Technology & Innovation, Infineon Technologies AG

"This is a hugely exciting project. It is a chance of Europe and Germany to catch up in the development of superconducting quantum computers. I am looking forward to adventures on understanding how such machines can be certified in their precise functioning." said Prof.Jens Eisert, Professor of Quantum Physics, Freie Universitt Berlin

About IQM Quantum Computers:

IQM is the European leader in superconducting quantum computers, headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Since its inception in 2018, IQM has grown to 80+ employees and has also established a subsidiary in Munich, Germany, to lead the co-design approach. IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers and provides complete access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through a unique application-specific co-design approach. IQM has raised 71 Million from VCs firms and also public grants and is also building Finland's first quantum computer.

For more information, visit http://www.meetiqm.com.

Registered offices:

IQM Finland OyKeilaranta 1902150 EspooFINLANDwww.meetiqm.com

IQM GERMANY GmbHNymphenburgerstr. 8680636 MnchenGermany

IQM: Facts and Figures

Founders:

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1437806/IQM_Quantum_Computers_Founders.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1437807/IQM_Quantum_computer_design.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1121497/IQM_Logo.jpg

Media Contact: Raghunath Koduvayur, Head of Marketing and Communications, [emailprotected], +358504876509

http://meetiqm.com/contact/

SOURCE IQM Finland Oy

Read more from the original source:
New EU Consortium shaping the future of Quantum Computing USA - PR Newswire India

The UK is now facing a huge challenge: after having secured a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status is going to require some serious stepping up.

National quantum programs and decade-long quantum strategies are increasingly being announced by governments around the world. And as countries unlock billions-worth of budgets, it is becoming clear that a furious competition is gradually unrolling. Nations want to make sure that they are the place-to-be when quantum technologies start showing some real-world value and the UK, for one, is keen to prove that it is a quantum hotspot in the making.

"We have a very successful program that is widely admired and emulated around the world," said Peter Knight, who sits on the strategic advisory for the UK's national quantum technology program (NQTP), as he provided a virtual update on the NQTP's performance so far.

Speaking at an online conference last month, Knight seemed confident. The UK, said the expert, in line with the objectives laid out in the program, is on track to become "the go-to place" for new quantum companies to start, and for established businesses to base all manners of innovative quantum activities.

SEE: Hiring Kit: Computer Hardware Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)

The UK is just over halfway through the NQTP, which saw its second five-year phase kick off at the end of 2019, and at the same timehit an impressive milestone of 1 billion ($1.37 billion) combined investment. This, the government claims, is letting the UK keep pace with competitors who are also taking interest in quantum namely, the US and China.

There is no doubt that the country has made strides in the field of quantum since the start of the NQTP. New ground-breaking research papers are popping up on a regular basis, and so are news reports of rounds of funding from promising quantum startups.

But with still just under half of the national quantum program to carry out, and despite the huge sums already invested, the UK is now facing a bigger challenge yet: after having chased a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status in the face of ferocious competition is going to require some serious stepping up.

Clearly playing in favor of the UK is the country's early involvement in the field. The NQTP was announced as early as 2013, and started operating in 2014, with an initial 270 million ($370 million) budget. The vision laid out in the program includes creating a "quantum-enabled economy", in which the technology would significantly contribute to the UK's economy and attract both strong investment and global talent.

"The national program was one of the first to kick off," Andrew Fearnside, senior associate specializing in quantum technologies at intellectual property firm Mewburn Ellis, tells ZDNet. "There are increasingly more national programs emerging in other countries, but they are a good few years behind us. The fact that there has been this sustained and productive long-term government initiative is definitely attractive."

The EU's Quantum Technologies Flagship, in effect,only launched in 2018; some countries within the bloc,like France, started their own quantum roadmaps on top of the European initiative even later. Similarly, the National Quantum Initiative Act wassigned into law by the Trump administration but that was also in 2018, years into the UK's national quantum technology program.

Since it launched in 2014, there has been abundant evidence of the academic successes of the initial phase of the NQTP. In Birmingham, the Quantum Sensing Hub is developing new types of quantum-based magnetic sensors that could help diagnose brain and heart conditions, while the Quantum Metrology Institute leads the development of quantum atomic clocks. There are up to 160 research groups and universities registered across the UK withprograms that are linked to quantum technologies, working on projects ranging from the design of quantum algorithms to the creation of new standards and verification methods.

A much harder challenge, however, is to transform this strong scientific foundation into business value and as soon as the UK government announced the second phase of the NQTP at the end of 2019,a clear messageemerged: quantum technology needed to come out of the lab, thanks to increased private sector investment that would accelerate commercialization.

Some key initiatives followed. A national quantum computing center was established for academics to work alongside commercial partners such as financial services company Standard Chartered, "possibly with an eye on financial optimization problems," notes Fearnside, given the business'established interest in leveraging quantum technologies. A 10 million ($13 million) "Discovery" program alsolaunched a few months ago, bringing together five quantum computing companies, three universities and the UK's national physical laboratory all for the purpose of making quantum work for businesses.

The government's efforts have been, to an extent, rewarded. The quantum startup ecosystem is thriving in the UK, with companies like Riverlane or Cambridge Quantum Computing completing strong rounds of private financing. In total, up to 204 quantum-related businesses have been listed so far in the country.

But despite these encouraging results, the UK is still faced with a big problem. Bringing university-born innovation to the real worldhas always been a national challenge, and quantum is no exception. A 2018 report from the Science and Technology committee, in fact,gave an early warning of the stumbling blocksthat the NQTP might run into, and stressed the need for improved awareness across industry of the potential of quantum technologies.

The committee urged the government to start conveying the near-term benefits that quantum could provide to businesses something that according to the report, CEOs and company chairs in North America worryingly seem to realize a whole lot better.

It's been three years since the report was published, and things haven't changed much. Speaking at the same forum as the NQTP's Peter Knight, Ian West, a partner at consultancy firm KPMG, said that there remained a huge barrier to the widespread take-up of quantum technologies in the UK. "Some of our clients feel they don't understand the technology, or feel it's one for the academics only," he argued.

"We need that demand from businesses who will be the ultimate users of quantum technologies, to encourage more investment," West added. "We need to do much more to explain the near-term and medium-term use cases for business applications of quantum technologies."

SEE: BMW explores quantum computing to boost supply chain efficiencies

Without sufficient understanding of the technology, funding problems inevitably come. The difficulty of securing private money for quantum stands in stark contrast to the situation across the Atlantic, where investors have historically done a better job of spotting and growing successful technology companies. Add the deep pockets of tech giants such as Google, IBM or Microsoft, which are all pouring money into quantum research, and it is easy to see why North America might have better prospects when it comes to winning the quantum game.

In the worst of cases, this has led to US technology hubs hoovering up some of the best quantum brains in the UK. In 2019, for example, PsiQ, a promising startup that was founded at the University of Bristol with the objective of producing a commercial quantum computer, re-located to Silicon Valley. The movewas reported to be partly motivated by a lack of access to capital in Europe. It was a smart decision: according to the company's latest update, PsiQ hasnow raised $215 million (156 million) in VC funding.

Pointing to the example of PsiQ, Simon King, partner and deep tech investor at VC firm Octopus Ventures, explains that to compete against the US, the UK needs to up its game when it comes to assessing the startups that show promise, and making sure that they are injected with adequate cash.

"The US remains the biggest competitor, with a big concentration of universities and academics and the pedigree and culture of commercializing university research," King tells ZDNet. "Things are definitely moving in the right direction, but the UK and Europe still lag behind the US, where there is a deeper pool of capital and there are more investors willing to invest in game-changing, but long-term technology like quantum."

US-based private investors are only likely to increase funding for the quantum ecosystem in the coming years, and significant amounts of public money will be backing the technology too. The National Quantum Initiative Act that was signed in 2018 came with $1.2 billion (870 million) to be invested in quantum information science over the next five years; as more quantum companies flourish, the budget can be expected to expand even further.

Competition will be coming from other parts of the world as well. In addition to the European Commission's 1 billion ($1.20 billion) quantum flagship, EU countries are also spending liberally on the technology. Germany, in particular, has launched a 2 billion ($2.4 billion) funding program for the promotion of quantum technologies in the country, surpassing by far many of its competitors; but France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are all increasingly trying to establish themselves as hubs for quantum startups and researchers.

SEE: Less is more: IBM achieves quantum computing simulation for new materials with fewer qubits

Little data is available to measure the scope of the commercialization of quantum technology in China, but the country has made no secret of its desire to secure a spot in the quantum race, too. The Chinese government has ramped up its spending on research and development, and the impact of that investment has already shown in the countryachieving some significant scientific breakthroughs in the field.

In the midst of this ever-more competitive landscape, whether the UK can effectively distinguish itself as the "go-to place" for quantum technologies remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: the country has laid some very strong groundwork to compete. "The UK has some genuinely world-class universities with some really brilliant academics, so while the objective is certainly ambitious, it's not out of the question," argues King.

But even top-notch researchers and some of the most exciting quantum startups might not cut it. The UK has positioned itself well from an early stage in the quantum race, but becoming a frontrunner was only one part of the job. Preserving the country's position for the coming years might prove to be the hardest challenge yet.

Follow this link:
The global quantum computing race has begun. What will it take to win it? - ZDNet

Sorting through the hype surrounding quantum computing these days isnt easy for enterprises trying to figure out the right time to jump in. Skeptics say any real impact is still years away, and yet quantum startups continue to seduce venture capitalists in search of the next big thing.

A new report from CB Insights may not resolve this debate, but it does add some interesting nuance. While the number of venture capital deals for quantum computing startups rose 46% to 37 in 2020 compared to 2019, the total amount raised in this sector fell 12% to $365 million.

Looking at just the number of deals, the annual tally has ticked up steadily from just 6 deals in 2015. As for the funding total, while it was down from $417 million in 2019, it remains well above the $73 million raised in 2015.

Theres a couple of conclusions to draw from this.

First, the number of startups being drawn into this space is clearly rising. As research has advanced, more entrepreneurs with the right technical chops feel the time is now to start building their startup.

Second, the average deal size for 2020 was just under $10 million. And if you include the $46 million IQM raised, that squeezes the average for most other deals down even further. That certainly demonstrates optimism, but its far from the kind of financial gusher or valuations that would indicate any kind of quantum bubble.

Finally, its important to remember that startups are likely a tiny slice of whats happening in quantum these days. A leading indicator? Perhaps.But a large part of the agenda is still being driven by tech giants who have massive resources to invest in a technology that may have a long horizon and could be years away from generating sufficient revenues. That includes Intel, IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Indeed, Amazon just rolled out a new blog dedicated to quantum computing.Last year, Amazon Web Services launched Amazon Braket, a product that lets enterprises start experimenting with quantum computing. Even so, AWS quantum computing director Simone Severini wrote in the inaugural blog post that business customers are still scratching their heads over the whole phenomenon.

We heard a recurring question, When will quantum computing reach its true potential? My answer was, I dont know.' she wrote. No one does. Its a difficult question because there are still fundamental scientific and engineering problems to be solved. The uncertainty makes this area so fascinating, but it also makes it difficult to plan. For some customers, thats a real issue. They want to know if and when they should focus on quantum computing, but struggle to get the facts, to discern the signal from all the noises.

Continued here:
Quantum venture funding dipped 12% in 2020, but quantum investments rose 46% - VentureBeat

John Smith, who has been regularly keeping up with computer science, quantum computing, and cryptocurrency-related developments, claims that the future of crypto is quantum-resistant, meaning we must build systems that can protect themselves against the potential attack from quantum computers (QCs) when they become powerful enough to present a challenge to digital asset networks.

While discussing what the future threat to Bitcoin (BTC) from Quantum Computing might be, and how big of a deal it really is, Smith claims that the threat is that quantum computers will eventually be able to break Bitcoins current digital signatures, which could render the network insecure and cause it to lose value.

He goes on to question why there isnt already a solution as trivial as simply upgrading the signatures? He explains that this might not be possible due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin and other large crypto-asset networks such as Ethereum (ETH).

While discussing how long until someone actually develops a quantum computer that can steal BTC by quickly deriving private keys from their associated public keys, Smith reveals that serious estimates range somewhere from 5 to over 30 years, with the median expert opinion being around 15 years.

Smooth added:

Banks/govts/etc. will soon upgrade to quantum-resistant cryptography to secure themselves going forward. Bitcoin, however, with large financial incentives for attacking it and no central authority that can upgrade *for* users, faces a unique set of challenges.

Going on to mention the main challenges, Smith notes that we can separate vulnerable BTC into three classes, including lost coins (which are estimated to be several million), non-lost coins residing in reused/taproot/otherwise-vulnerable addresses, and coins in the mempool (i.e., being transacted).

Beginning with lost coins, why are they even an issue? Because its possible to steal a huge number all at once and then selling them in mass quantities which could tank the entire crypto market. He added that if that seems imminent, the market could preemptively tank. He also mentioned that an attacker may profit greatly by provoking either of the above and shorting BTC.

While proposing potential solutions, Smith suggests preemptively burning lost coins via soft fork (or backwards compatible upgrade). He clarifies that just how well this works will depend on:

He further noted:

Another potential way around the problem of millions of lost BTC is if a benevolent party were to steal & then altruistically burn them. Not clear how realistic this is, given the financial incentives involved & who the parties likely to have this capability would be.

He added:

Moving on why are non-lost coins with vulnerable public keys an issue? This is self-evident. The primary threat to the wealth of BTC holders is their BTC being stolen. And as with lost coins, a related threat is that the market starts to fear such an attack is possible.

He also mentioned that another solution could be that Bitcoin adds a quantum-resistant signature and holders proactively migrate. He points out that how well this all works will depend on:

While discussing the vulnerability of coins in the mempool, Smith mentioned that it could complicate migration to quantum-resistant addresses *after* large QCs are built or it could greatly magnify the threat posed by an unanticipated black swan advance in QC.

While proposing other solutions, Smith noted:

A commit-reveal tx scheme can be used to migrate coins without mempool security. This gets around the vulnerability of a users old public key by adding an extra encryption/decryption step based on their new quantum-resistant key but w/ crucial limitations.

He added:

Considerations w/ commit-reveal migration [are that] its not foolproof unless a user starts with their coins stored in a non-vulnerable address, because attackers can steal any vulnerable coins simply by beating the original owner to the punch.

Considerations with commit-reveal migration are also that commit transactions introduce technical hurdles (vs. regular txs) & increase the load on the network. Neither of these are insurmountable by any means, but they suggest that this method should not be relied upon too heavily, Smith claims.

He also noted that how well the commit-reveal transaction type works will depend on:

He added:

One potential way around the network overhead & just plain hassle of commit-reveal migration would be if a highly efficient quantum-resistant zero-knowledge proof were discovered. Current QR ZK algorithms are far too large to use in Bitcoin, but that could change. Worth noting.

While sharing other potential solutions, Smith noted that theres the tank the attack & rebuild.

He pointed out that Bitcoins network effects are massive, so it is challenging to accurately estimate or predict what the crypto ecosystem will look like in the future, but the potential economic disruption of BTC failing may incentivize extraordinary measures to save the network.

He added:

Bitcoins ability to tank a quantum-computing-related market crash will depend on [whether theres] another chain capable of replacing BTC as the main crypto store of value [and whether] BTC [can] avoid a mining death spiral? Also, how far will stakeholders go to ensure the network survives & rebounds?

Smith also mentioned that for people or institutions holding Bitcoin, some good measures may be purchasing insurance, and/or hedging BTC exposure with an asset that would be expected to increase in value in the case of an attack.

Read more from the original source:
Quantum Computers May Steal Bitcoin by Deriving Private Keys once Advanced Enough in 5-30 Years, Experts Claim - Crowdfund Insider

Nearly a century after dark matter was first proposed to explain the motion of galaxy clusters, physicists still have no idea what its made of.

Researchers around the world have built dozens of detectors in hopes of discovering dark matter. As a graduate student, I helped design and operate one of these detectors, aptly named HAYSTAC. But despite decades of experimental effort, scientists have yet to identify the dark matter particle.

Now, the search for dark matter has received an unlikely assist from technology used in quantum computing research. In a new paper published in the journal Nature, my colleagues on the HAYSTAC team and I describe how we used a bit of quantum trickery to double the rate at which our detector can search for dark matter. Our result adds a much-needed speed boost to the hunt for this mysterious particle.

There is compelling evidence from astrophysics and cosmology that an unknown substance called dark matter constitutes more than 80% of the matter in the universe. Theoretical physicists have proposed dozens of new fundamental particles that could explain dark matter. But to determine which if any of these theories is correct, researchers need to build different detectors to test each one.

One prominent theory proposes that dark matter is made of as-yet hypothetical particles called axions that collectively behave like an invisible wave oscillating at a very specific frequency through the cosmos. Axion detectors including HAYSTAC work something like radio receivers, but instead of converting radio waves to sound waves, they aim to convert axion waves into electromagnetic waves. Specifically, axion detectors measure two quantities called electromagnetic field quadratures. These quadratures are two distinct kinds of oscillation in the electromagnetic wave that would be produced if axions exist.

The main challenge in the search for axions is that nobody knows the frequency of the hypothetical axion wave. Imagine youre in an unfamiliar city searching for a particular radio station by working your way through the FM band one frequency at a time. Axion hunters do much the same thing: They tune their detectors over a wide range of frequencies in discrete steps. Each step can cover only a very small range of possible axion frequencies. This small range is the bandwidth of the detector.

Tuning a radio typically involves pausing for a few seconds at each step to see if youve found the station youre looking for. Thats harder if the signal is weak and theres a lot of static. An axion signal in even the most sensitive detectors would be extraordinarily faint compared with static from random electromagnetic fluctuations, which physicists call noise. The more noise there is, the longer the detector must sit at each tuning step to listen for an axion signal.

Unfortunately, researchers cant count on picking up the axion broadcast after a few dozen turns of the radio dial. An FM radio tunes from only 88 to 108 megahertz (one megahertz is one million hertz). The axion frequency, by contrast, may be anywhere between 300 hertz and 300 billion hertz. At the rate todays detectors are going, finding the axion or proving that it doesnt exist could take more than 10,000 years.

On the HAYSTAC team, we dont have that kind of patience. So in 2012 we set out to speed up the axion search by doing everything possible to reduce noise. But by 2017 we found ourselves running up against a fundamental minimum noise limit because of a law of quantum physics known as the uncertainty principle.

The uncertainty principle states that it is impossible to know the exact values of certain physical quantities simultaneously for instance, you cant know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. Recall that axion detectors search for the axion by measuring two quadratures those specific kinds of electromagnetic field oscillations. The uncertainty principle prohibits precise knowledge of both quadratures by adding a minimum amount of noise to the quadrature oscillations.

In conventional axion detectors, the quantum noise from the uncertainty principle obscures both quadratures equally. This noise cant be eliminated, but with the right tools it can be controlled. Our team worked out a way to shuffle around the quantum noise in the HAYSTAC detector, reducing its effect on one quadrature while increasing its effect on the other. This noise manipulation technique is called quantum squeezing.

In an effort led by graduate students Kelly Backes and Dan Palken, the HAYSTAC team took on the challenge of implementing squeezing in our detector, using superconducting circuit technology borrowed from quantum computing research. General-purpose quantum computers remain a long way off, but our new paper shows that this squeezing technology can immediately speed up the search for dark matter.

Our team succeeded in squeezing the noise in the HAYSTAC detector. But how did we use this to speed up the axion search?

Quantum squeezing doesnt reduce the noise uniformly across the axion detector bandwidth. Instead, it has the largest effect at the edges. Imagine you tune your radio to 88.3 megahertz, but the station you want is actually at 88.1. With quantum squeezing, you would be able to hear your favorite song playing one station away.

In the world of radio broadcasting this would be a recipe for disaster, because different stations would interfere with one another. But with only one dark matter signal to look for, a wider bandwidth allows physicists to search faster by covering more frequencies at once. In our latest result we used squeezing to double the bandwidth of HAYSTAC, allowing us to search for axions twice as fast as we could before.

Quantum squeezing alone isnt enough to scan through every possible axion frequency in a reasonable time. But doubling the scan rate is a big step in the right direction, and we believe further improvements to our quantum squeezing system may enable us to scan 10 times faster.

Nobody knows whether axions exist or whether they will resolve the mystery of dark matter; but thanks to this unexpected application of quantum technology, were one step closer to answering these questions.

See more here:
The search for dark matter gets a speed boost from quantum technology - The Conversation US