Название: Quantum Computing Compact: Spooky Action at a Distance and Teleportation Easy to Understand
Автор: Bettina Just
Издательство: Springer
Год: 2022
Страниц: 107
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub
Размер: 10.1 MB

- What is quantum entanglement?
- How do quantum algorithms work?

These are the two central questions answered in this book.

Quantum computing is talked about in times of Artificial Intelligence and fast algorithms. You can find articles not only in technical literature and popular science literature, but also in ordinary daily newspapers and journals. One hears about superfast computers that could break encryption systems, be used in material design and in the simulation of traffic flows and logistics, and speed up all applications of Artificial Intelligence enormously.

However, the subject is difficult to access. Anyone who wants to understand how the algorithms work and why they are so fast will find strange justifications in the popular science literature. There is talk of a quantum bit being both "0" and "1" at the same time, or of socks that are both red and blue, but at the same time monochrome. In the technical literature one quickly reads about unitary transformations in high-dimensional spaces, which are hidden in the formalism of quantum physics. Their meaning is not immediately obvious, even if one can calculate the formulas. This book aims to build a bridge here and provide an introduction to the topic of "quantum computing" that is scientifically correct but does not require any special prior knowledge of mathematics or physics.

Quantum computers (like conventional computers) consist of the hardware, that is the devices themselves, and the software, the algorithms that run on the devices. The smallest piece of hardware in a quantum computer is the quantum bit. Quantum bits are tiny particles, about the size of electrons or photons (particles of light), which obey the laws of quantum physics. These laws contradict our classical mechanistic idea of the world. They seem so strange that the great physicist Niels Bohr reportedly said of them, "Those who are not shocked by quantum theory do not understand it."

Quantum computer hardware is currently the biggest difficulty in the use of quantum computers. A brief outline of quantum computer hardware can be found in the last chapter of the book.

The second part of the book then deals in detail—beyond the hardware—with the software, i.e., with the way quantum algorithms work. Circuits form the basis of algorithms, so quantum circuits are considered. Some quantum gates and the algorithm for teleportation, one of the most exciting and at the same time simplest algorithms in the world of quantum computing, are presented.

Special mathematical knowledge is not required for this, since all gates and the teleportation algorithm are shown graphically in this book. They are also calculated, but who does not like to calculate can understand all gates and the teleportation algorithm only by the illustrations. All formulas can be simply skipped.

The book is aimed at readers who want to understand quantum computing in more detail, and build a simple, scientifically clean bridge between popular scientific accounts and the technical literature. No knowledge of mathematics, physics, or computer science is required.

For the first part, however, the willingness to expand the classical mechanistic physical worldview is required. For the second part, the willingness to enter a whole new world of algorithms is needed. These are algorithms in which a change in one quantum bit potentially changes the behavior of all other quantum bits—systemic algorithms, so to speak.

After reading this book, you will know how quantum entanglement is detected and why Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance.” You will understand the basic idea of how quantum algorithms work. You can delve further into the mathematical, physical, or computer science literature, depending on your area of expertise.