Tom Wong , a graduate student in physics, and David Meyer , a professor of mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, have proposed a new algorithm for quantum computing that will significantly speed up the solution of problems of a particular type. But as the analysis of scientists has shown, accelerating the calculations will require the involvement of more physical resources necessary for accurate timing.
The algorithm will be used to solve problems in the field of unstructured search. The goal is to find a specific item in an array of unsorted data. Solving this problem on a classic computer using units and zeros stored on magnetic media is akin to flipping a deck of cards one at a time, according to Wong. Searching in a large data array will take a very long time.
A quantum computation based on a quantum state, often over a very short period of time, takes advantage of the strange quantum world in which particles such as photons or bosons can exist in more than one state at a time. This position is called superposition. This effect presents interesting possibilities for carrying out parallel calculations, but immediately after the measurement, as we well know, quantum objects give an unambiguous answer.
The trick is to develop algorithms that will override the wrong answers and accumulate the right ones. The nature of the algorithm depends on the environment in which the information is stored.
Meyer and Wong proposed a computer built on a special state of matter called the Bose-Einstein condensate. Atoms fall into an electromagnetic trap and are cooled to such an extent that they “fall” into the lower quantum state and act as a whole.
The equation commonly used to describe a quantum system is linear, but what describes the state of the Bose-Einstein condensate has an element in the cube. In an article published in the New Journal of Physics , scientists proposed a calculation with this cubic equation, which would make it possible to find the answer much faster. For example, the algorithm can be used to search for a specific element among millions of similar ones, and at the same time - among ten points.
“It seems like a grandiose deception,” Wong notes, but with a careful analysis of the theoretical part of the plan, Wong and Meyer found that the increase in speed would require significant physical costs.
Since the search works unpredictably, timing using an atomic clock must be very accurate. This requirement imposes a lower limit on the number of ions making up an atomic clock.
Another resource is the computing environment itself, the Bose-Einstein condensate.
“If we want to run this algorithm, we need to collect a certain number of atoms,” says Wong. “And so how many atoms will we need to make this non-linear equation work and correspond to the basic quantum theory?” This is new. ”
The article is based on materials .
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