Computer Science

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Kyle Jones

02:58

nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/…

This article makes it sound like they've moved more of NP into BQP. Anyone know for sure?

2 hours later…

vzn

04:41

@KyleJones hi. ah, the infamous and notorious dwave systems

D-Wave Systems

D-Wave Systems, Inc. is a quantum computing company, based in Burnaby, British Columbia. On May 11, 2011, D-Wave System announced D-Wave One, labeled "the world's first commercially available quantum computer," and also referred to it as an adiabatic quantum computer using quantum annealing to solve optimization problems operating on an 128 qubit chip-set. The D-Wave One was built on early prototypes such as D-Wave's Orion Quantum Computer. The prototype was a 16-qubit adiabatic quantum computer, demonstrated on February 13, 2007 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Califor...

Kyle Jones

Hi. I tried to make sense of what the article was kinda sorta promising, but I think it has been mashed flat in an attempt to make the systems make sense to anyone other than theoretical CS types.

vzn

for harsh criticism & reality check, read anything by QM theoretician scott aaronson eg on his blog. although he recently said in his blog he was going to bail out on further criticism.

see eg quantum effect demonstrating beef. oops its from summer 2011. not sure if he has more recent opinions somewhere.

yes its notoriously difficult to describe qm computing to nonscientists.

[ps thx for the nyt link had not seen it yet!]

here is aaronson writing in NYT late 2011

Quantum Computing Promises New Insights, Not Just Supermachines

Kyle Jones

Heh, yeah. Difficult. I don't claim to understand it myself, but I'm wondering if there's been some breakthrough that makes this new computer useful for attacking more problems.

Thanks for the links. Will do more reading.

vzn

"I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics" —feynman

@KyleJones NP=?BQP is a [still open!] theoretical question independent of hardware.

there is indeed a breakthru, its [at least] that someone plonked down big $$$ for a dwave system. its close to their 1st sale. although once read they have been involved in behind-the-scenes collaborations with google who has test-driven their system(s).

this 2011 paper published in nature has really upped the ante and given them huge credibility they hadnt established earlier.

Quantum annealing with manufactured spins

my understanding is that they are indeed running QM computers using the "adiabatic" method [which is not quite what most theoretical research is based on--its based on qubits, a different technology]. however its fiendishly difficult to unequivocally determine/verify/measure whether this adiabatic method can outperform classical computers [both in theory/applied].

anyway, though, depending on who you talk to, they are possibly farther along on viable QM computing than any other organization in the world.

11 hours later…

vzn

16:06

Q: is adiabatic quantum computing as powerful as qubit computing?

adiabatic quantum computing is not based on qubits whereas qubit-based-computing is a large part of what all the quantum computing literature is written on. right? looking for insight into any of the following: is adiabatic quantum computing as powerful as qubit computing? or is it inheren...