Category Archives: Quantum Computing

Thu, Aug 27, 2020 - 6:50 AM

[SAN FRANCISCO] The US on Wednesday said it will spend US$625 million over the next five years on centers to research artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

An additional US$340 million will be contributed by the private sector and academic institutions, bringing the total planned investment close to US$1 billion, according to a release by the Department of Energy.

The money will go to establishing a dozen research institutes focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing, the DOE said.

"These institutes will be world-class hubs for accelerating American innovation and building the 21st century American workforce," said US Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios.

The US invests more than US$500 million annually in AI research and is building on that effort to "advance American competitiveness," according to National Science Foundation director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

A Google official warned in January that in a technological race to the future, China could pour "enormous resources" into developing super-computers with quantum technology.

US officials and scientists in July began laying the groundwork for a more secure "virtually unhackable" internet based on quantum computing technology.

During a presentation at that time, DOE officials issued a report laying out a strategy for the development of a national quantum internet, using laws of quantum mechanics to transmit information more securely than on existing networks.

The agency is working with universities and industry researchers with the aim of creating a prototype within a decade.

"The foundation of quantum networks rests on our ability to precisely synthesize and manipulate matter at the atomic scale, including the control of single photons," David Awschalom, a University of Chicago professor and senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, said at the time.

Not included in the US announcement Wednesday were Google and Honeywell, which have claimed strides in quantum computing research.

US manufacturing and technology group Honeywell earlier this year said it would bring to market "the world's most powerful quantum computer" aimed at tackling complex scientific and business challenges.

The company said it had achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing, which uses subatomic particles to speed up processing.

Quantum computing is based on the use of quantum bits or qubits, which can perform trillions of calculations per second and in some cases outperform the fastest traditional supercomputers.

The Honeywell announcement came after Google claimed last year to have achieved "quantum supremacy" by developing a machine outperforming the world's fastest supercomputers.

Google said that its Sycamore quantum processor solved a computing problem within 200 seconds which would have taken 10,000 years on a traditional computer.

IBM runs its own quantum computing program.

AFP

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US to spend US$625m on super-computing research centres - The Business Times

The Drake equation is one of the more famous reckonings in science. It calculates the likelihood that we are not alone in the universe by estimating the number of other intelligent civilizations in our galaxy that might exist now.

Some of the terms in this equation are well known or becoming better understood, such as the number of stars in our galaxy and the proportion that have planets in the habitable zone. But others are unknown, such as the proportion of planets that develop intelligent life; and some may never be known such as the proportion that destroy themselves before they can be discovered.

Nevertheless, the Drake equation allows scientists to place important bounds on the numbers of intelligent civilizations that might be out there.

However, there is another sense in which humanity could be linked with an alien intelligenceour world may just be a simulation inside a massively powerful supercomputer run by such a species. Indeed, various scientists, philosophers and visionaries have said that the probability of such a scenario could be close to one. In other words, we probably are living in a simulation.

The accuracy of these claims is somewhat controversial. So a better way to determine the probability that we live in a simulation would be much appreciated.

Enter Alexandre Bibeau-Delisle and Gilles Brassard at the University of Montreal in Canada. These researchers have derived a Drake-like equation that calculates the chances that we live in a computer simulation. And the results throw up some counterintuitive ideas that are likely to change the way we think about simulations, how we might determine whether we are in one and whether we could ever escape.

Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard begin with a fundamental estimate of the computing power available to create a simulation. They say, for example, that a kilogram of matter, fully exploited for computation, could perform 10^50 operations per second.

By comparison, the human brain, which is also kilogram-sized, performs up to 10^16 operations per second. It may thus be possible for a single computer the mass of a human brain to simulate the real-time evolution of 1.4 10^25 virtual brains, they say.

In our society, a significant number of computers already simulate entire civilizations, in games such as Civilization VI, Hearts of Iron IV, Humankind and so. So it may be reasonable to assume that in a sufficiently advanced civilization, individuals will be able to run games that simulate societies like ours, populated with sentient conscious beings.

So an interesting question is this: of all the sentient beings in existence, what fraction are likely to be simulations? To derive the answer, Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard start with the total number of real sentient beings NRe, multiply that by the fraction with access to the necessary computing power fCiv; multiply this by the fraction of that power that is devoted to simulating consciousness fDed (because these beings are likely to be using their computer for other purposes too); and then multiply this by the number of brains they could simulate Rcal.

The resulting equation is this, where fSim is the fraction of simulated brains:

Here RCal is the huge number of brains that fully exploited matter should be able to simulate.

The sheer size of this number, ~10^25, pushes Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard towards an inescapable conclusion. It is mathematically inescapable from [the above] equation and the colossal scale of RCal that fSim 1 unless fCiv fDed 0, they say.

So there are two possible outcomes. Either we live in a simulation or a vanishingly small proportion of advanced computing power is devoted to simulating brains.

Its not hard to imagine why the second option might be true. A society of beings similar to us (but with a much greater technological development) could indeed decide it is not very ethical to simulate beings with enough precision to make them conscious while fooling them and keeping them cut-off from the real world, say Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard.

Another possibility is that advanced civilizations never get to the stage where their technology is powerful enough to perform these kinds of computations. Perhaps they destroy themselves through war or disease or climate change long before then. There is no way of knowing.

But suppose we are in a simulation. Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard ask whether we might escape while somehow hiding our intentions from our overlords. They assume that the simulating technology will be quantum in nature. If quantum phenomena are as difficult to compute on classical systems as we believe them to be, a simulation containing our world would most probably run on quantum computing power, they say.

This raises the possibility that it may be possible to detect our alien overlords since they cannot measure the quantum nature of our world without revealing their presence. Quantum cryptography uses the same principle; indeed, Brassard is one of the pioneers of this technology.

That would seem to make it possible for us to make encrypted plans that are hidden from the overlords, such as secretly transferring ourselves into our own simulations.

However, the overlords have a way to foil this. All they need to do is to rewire their simulation to make it look as if we are able to hide information, even though they are aware of it all the time. If the simulators are particularly angry at our attempted escape, they could also send us to a simulated hell, in which case we would at least have the confirmation we were truly living inside a simulation and our paranoia was not unjustified...conclude Bibeau-Delisle and Brassard, with their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

In that sense, we are the ultimate laboratory guinea pigs: forever trapped and forever fooled by the evil genius of our omnipotent masters.

Time for another game of Civilization VI.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/2008.09275 : Probability and Consequences of Living Inside a Computer Simulation

More here:
This Equation Calculates The Chances We Live In A Computer Simulation - Discover Magazine

South Korea-based DGB Daegu Bank, which is part of the DGB Financial Group (DGBFG), a banking holding company based in Daegu, has partnered with SK Telecom, a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator.

Through the partnership, both organizations aim to enhance Daegu Banks IM Bank apps security by using 5G enabled quantum cryptography technology.

SK Telecom is a key part of the SK Group, which is one of the nations largest chaebols (a large conglomerate thats controlled by an owner or family based in South Korea). SK Telecom is the countrys largest wireless carrier. The company notably leads the domestic market with around a 50% share. Meanwhile, Daegu Bank is one of the largest regional banks in South Korea. It mainly services customers based in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region.

The IM Bank app will reportedly allow Samsung Galaxy A Quantum owners to use the handsets quantum random number generator (QRNG) for enabling greater security. The QRNG chipset that has been embedded in the Galaxy A Quantum mobile phones is able to generate true random numbers that are not predictable, according to SK Telecom.

The technology will be used to generate one-time passwords at the time when IM Bank clients are sending funds or creating accounts. SK Telekom and Daegu Bank said theyll be looking into other use cases for the technology.

Quantum tech has also been used by many other financial service providers. As reported, the BBVA continues to work on quantum computing data projects. Last month, the BBVA had shared results of its quantum computing tech proof of concepts for improving currency aribtrage and enhancing porfolio management.

Crypto or blockchain industry participants have also raised concerns about whether the binary model based digital currencies of today, like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), will be ready for the time when quantum computers have matured.

Ethereum (ETH) might not even have quantum resistance on its roadmap, the Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) team revealed in June 2020.

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Major South Korean Daegu Bank and SK Telecom, the Nations Largest Wireless Carrier, are Working on 5G enabled Quantum Cryptography Tech - Crowdfund...

The quest to build the ultimate computer has taken a big step forward following breakthroughs in ensuring its answers can be trusted.

Known as a quantum computer, such a machine exploits bizarre effects in the sub-atomic world to perform calculations beyond the reach of conventional computers.

First proposed almost 40 years ago, tech giants Microsoft, Google and IBM are among those racing to exploit the power of quantum computing, which is expected to transform fields ranging from weather forecasting and drug design to artificial intelligence.

The power of quantum computers comes from their use of so-called qubits, the quantum equivalent of the 1s and 0s bits used by conventional number-crunchers.

Unlike bits, qubits exploit a quantum effect allowing them to be both 1s and 0s at the same time. The impact on processing power is astonishing. Instead of processing, say, 100 bits in one go, a quantum computer could crunch 100 qubits, equivalent to 2 to the power 100, or a million trillion trillion bits.

At least, that is the theory. The problem is that the property of qubits that gives them their abilities known as quantum superposition is very unstable.

Once created, even the slightest vibration, temperature shift or electromagnetic signal can disturb the qubits, causing errors in calculations. Unless the superposition can be maintained long enough, the quantum computer either does a few calculations well or a vast amount badly.

For years, the biggest achievement of any quantum computer involved using a few qubits to find the prime factors of 15 (which every schoolchild knows are 3 and 5).

Using complex shielding methods, researchers can now stabilise around 50 qubits long enough to perform impressive calculations.

Last October, Google claimed to have built a quantum computer that solved in 200 seconds a maths problem that would have taken an ultra-fast conventional computer more than 10,000 years.

Yet even this billion-fold speed-up is just a shadow of what would be possible if qubits could be kept stable for longer. At present, many of the qubits have their powers wasted being used to spot and fix errors.

Now two teams of researchers have independently found new ways of tackling the error problem.

Physicists at the University of Chicago have found a way of keeping qubits stable for longer not by blocking disturbances, but by blurring them.

It is like sitting on a merry-go-round with people yelling all around you

Dr Kevin Miao, computing expert

In some quantum computers, the qubits take the form of electrons whose direction of spin is a superposition of both up and down. By adding a constantly flipping magnetic field, the team found that the electrons rotated so quickly that they barely noticed outside disturbances. The researchers explain the trick with an analogy: It's like sitting on a merry-go-round with people yelling all around you, says team member Dr Kevin Miao. When the ride is still, you can hear them perfectly, but if you're rapidly spinning, the noise blurs into a background.

Describing their work in the journal Science, the team reported keeping the qubits working for about 1/50th of a second - around 10,000 times longer than their lifetime if left unshielded. According to the team, the technique is simple to use but effective against all the standard sources of disturbance. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Sydney have come up with an algorithm that allows a quantum computer to work out how its qubits are being affected by disturbances and fix the resulting errors. Reporting their discovery in Nature Physics, the team says their method is ready for use with current quantum computers, and could work with up to 100 qubits.

These breakthroughs come at a key moment for quantum computing. Even without them, the technology is already spreading beyond research laboratories.

In June, the title of worlds most powerful quantum computer was claimed not by a tech giant but by Honeywell a company perhaps best known for central heating thermostats.

Needless to say, the claim is contested by some, not least because the machine is reported to have only six qubits. But Honeywell points out that it has focused its research on making those qubits ultra-stable which allows them to work reliably for far longer than rival systems. Numbers of qubits alone, in other words, are not everything.

And the company insists this is just the start. It plans to boost the performance of its quantum computer ten-fold each year for the next five years, making it 100,000 times more powerful still.

But apart from bragging rights, why is a company like Honeywell trying to take on the tech giants in the race for the ultimate computer ?

A key clue can be found in remarks made by Honeywell insiders to Forbes magazine earlier this month. These reveal that the company wants to use quantum computers to discover new kinds of materials.

Doing this involves working out how different molecules interact together to form materials with the right properties. Thats something conventional computers are already used for. But quantum computers wont just bring extra number-crunching power to bear. Crucially, like molecules themselves, their behaviour reflects the bizarre laws of quantum theory. And this makes them ideal for creating accurate simulations of quantum phenomena like the creation of new materials.

This often-overlooked feature of quantum computers was, in fact, the original motivation of the brilliant American physicist Richard Feynman, who first proposed their development in 1981.

Honeywell already has plans to use quantum computers to identify better refrigerants. These compounds were once notorious for attacking the Earths ozone layer, but replacements still have unwanted environmental effects. Being relatively simple chemicals, the search for better refrigerants is already within the reach of current quantum computers.

But Honeywell sees a time when far more complex molecules such as drugs will also be discovered using the technology.

For the time being, no quantum computer can match the all-round number-crunching power of standard computers. Just as Honeywell made its claim, the Japanese computer maker Fujitsu unveiled a supercomputer capable of over 500 million billion calculations a second.

Even so, the quantum computer is now a reality and before long it will make even the fastest supercomputer seem like an abacus.

Robert Matthews is Visiting Professor of Science at Aston University, Birmingham, UK

Updated: August 21, 2020 12:06 PM

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Has the world's most powerful computer arrived? - The National

A quantum physicist is laying out the real-world impact of quantum computers on cryptography and cryptocurrency.

In a YouTube video, quantum physicist Anastasia Marchenkova shares her two cents about the race to break encryption technology with quantum computers.

Shors [quantum] algorithm can break RSA and elliptic curve cryptography, which is a problem because a lot of our data these days is encrypted with those two algorithms. Quantum computers are not faster at everything. Theyre just faster at certain problems and it just happens that this RSA and elliptic curve encryptions fall under that umbrella.

But there are other encryption algorithms that are not affected by quantum computers and we have to discover them and then actually implement them and put them into action before a large enough quantum computer actually emerges. [Breaking cryptography] requires a huge amount of qubits, something like 10 million qubits estimated. But it was one of the first discoveries of what practical application that quantum computers can actually do.

[Quantum computing] harnesses quantum properties to actually factor numbers a lot faster, and thats the whole core of the security behind RSA encryption. The consequences of this is that our data is not going to be secure anymore if we get a big enough quantum computer. So were going to have to do something about it.

Quantum computing has recently grabbed headlines as it poses a serious threat to cryptographic algorithms which keeps cryptocurrencies and the internet secure. Quantum computers have the capability to crack complex mathematical problems as qubits or quantum bits can maintain a superimposition by being in two states at a given time.

Meanwhile, Marchenkova doesnt think crypto holders must find a way to move their Bitcoin to a quantum secure wallet immediately. But she does believe anyone holding crypto should be concerned and keep tabs on the latest developments because blockchains will one day need to be upgraded to protect against the rise of quantum computing.

Yes, you should worry. But not anytime soon. You dont need to move your Bitcoin today to some other quantum secure wallet But in general, how do we upgrade the blockchain?

We can fork it and moving forward everything will be fine assuming we find a good quantum secure algorithm. But what are we going to do with all the old coins or the coins that have all private their keys lost? Are we just going to say Sorry, bye, this part of the chain will no longer be valid unless you move it or re-encrypt it. Or are we going to find new technology?

I

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Will Quantum Computers Really Destroy Bitcoin? A Look at the Future of Crypto, According to Quantum Physicist Anastasia Marchenkova - The Daily Hodl

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