Find out what Dell Technologies has to say about quantum computing, 5G and more for this year – Nasi Lemak Tech

Dell Technologies have presented what they think about the year 2021 in terms of technologies and the companys view and strategy towards said elements.

For the main discussions, they have shared their insights, analytics, and predictions for the top 4 emerging technologies of 2021, namely quantum computing, silicon chips, 5G, multi-cloud edge solutions.

For starters, the company recognizes the existence and ability of quantum computing but it is not yet practical at least for a couple of years and it should be positioned as an augmentation of conventional computing such as an addition of a new tier towards the highest point of a pyramid hierarchy. They are also impressed by the fact that the cryptography sector has finally met its real challenger in terms of pure brute force speed and have started investing R&D resources to refine modern-day security solutions to match them. Recommendation wise, they are encouraging the development of a simulator and language tailored specifically for quantum computing to train and produce sufficient experts in the future.

Onto semiconductors, they have seen global leaders such as Apple, Intel, and AMD all made their own moves of incorporating their own heterogeneous architectures such as big.LITTLE in their processors one way or another and with NVIDIA purchasing ARM and AMD getting its hands on Xylinx, Dell Technologies are pretty sure future servers are going to follow suit and similar architectures as well, focusing on software modernization, integration platform in conjunction with the silicon chip itself.

The enterprise use of 5G also stemmed the organizations interest as they have predicted that the new standards will really take off during this year as true SA-5G specifications such as mMTC, UR-LLC and MEC provide the groundwork for telecommunications parties to learn, adapt and deploy them in both public and private use cases. Software solutions providers such as Dell Technologies themselves, Microsoft, and more will chime in to continuously refine 5G to be open yet standardized.

Finally, multi-cloud assimilation will solve the issue of edge proliferation which is the excessive independent edge system that currently existed in the ecosystem by clearly classifying resource pools and workload extensions into 2 unique individual categories. In a simpler sense, more workloads and resources targeting public clouds and SaaS edges will involve more logical partitioning compared to the past.

Amit Midha, President of the APAC and Japan region, also added that the entire world is slowly shifting its focus to Asia in terms of business and the technology it carries along and forward into the future. Discussing the companys progress for the social impact aimed for the year 2030 with 9 years to go, they are in the driver seat to achieve a 1:1 ratio of using recycled materials for manufacturing and gender representation for its employees alongside affecting more than 1 billion of lives for a greater good.

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Find out what Dell Technologies has to say about quantum computing, 5G and more for this year - Nasi Lemak Tech

U.S. DoE sends another $ 73 million into the future of Quantum – Illinoisnewstoday.com

The US Department of Energy (DoE), the most influential body in the way the largest supercomputers are designed and built, has been looking beyond CMOS long before the introduction of exascale systems.

Agencies have made multiple bets that quantum computing will play an important role in the future of large-scale scientific computing, whether as an accelerator of some sort or as a more general-purpose system of the future. There is. With so many projects scattered around, its difficult to maintain current totals, but at current rates, DoE will invest well over $ 1 billion in future quantum technology by the end of 2022. Its possible, and its not unreasonable to think that this doesnt include millions of dollars. Reserved to build the quantum internet.

That gambling dollar figure continues to grow with an additional $ 73 million added today.

DoE has been strong in funding quantum computing for the past few years. Over the course of five years, it has pushed $ 115 million into this area from comprehensive programs like Q-Next, splitting its funding into the quantum application and domain areas (widely referred to by DoE as Quantum Information Science or QIS). increase). The system, even if the realization of that funding could be 10 years (or more) ahead and still might not replace traditional supercomputers.

In 2019, DoE awarded more than $ 60 million for quantum computing in communications, and in January 2020 announced $ 625 million for the new quantum computing center. $ 30 million for QIS in key application areas in March of this year. It will be added to the $ 115 million Q-Next program at Argonne National Laboratory. All of this does not include DoE funding that works with NSF and other institutions and programs, in addition to the $ 73 million announced today. So perhaps its already over a billion.

This week, DoE funds new thinking and experimental and theoretical efforts to promote understanding of the quantum phenomena of systems that can be used in Quantum Information Science (QIS) and the use of quantum computing in chemistry and materials science research. Announced $ 73 million to offer .. This influx of investment 29 projects Above all, more than 3 years to new materials, cryogenic systems and algorithms.

Very few winners have focused on the application, and the majority of the funding seems to support the quantum hardware effort. This includes projects focused on creating qubits (materials, enhanced stability, all-new qubit types), fault tolerance, and error correction. Some efforts focus on quantum simulation in traditional systems.

The award spans various universities and national laboratories. The Berkeley National Lab has two awards, one group focusing on the superconducting structure of scalable quantum systems, and the other team developing f-element qubits with controllable coherence and entanglement. I am. Argonne National Laboratory also has two groups, one focusing on entanglement issues and the other focusing on quantum spin coherence of photosynthetic proteins.

Other notable programs funded include work on applications such as quantum chemistry (Emory University) and molecular dynamics / materials science (University of Southern California). There are also some award-winning teams that focus on specific programming-related challenges.

The project was selected based on a peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement Materials and Chemical Science Research for Quantum Information Science by the Department of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) of DOE. NS DOE Science Bureaus efforts in QIS It is notified by community input and applications focused on target missions such as quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. DOEs Science Department supports 5 National QIS Research Center A diverse portfolio of research projects, including recent awards for promoting QIS in areas related to nuclear physics and fusion energy science.

Quantum science represents the next technological revolution and frontier in the information age, and the United States is at the forefront, said Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm. National Labs will strengthen resilience in the face of increasing cyber threats and climate disasters, paving the way for a cleaner and safer future.

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U.S. DoE sends another $ 73 million into the future of Quantum

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U.S. DoE sends another $ 73 million into the future of Quantum - Illinoisnewstoday.com

Quantum computing is so last-decade. Get ready to invest in the final frontier… teleportation – MarketWatch

If 2020 had you wishing you could say Beam me up, Scotty, youre not alone. You may be one tiny step closer to getting your wish in a few decades or so.

Scientists from Fermilab, Caltech, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Calgary achieved long-distance quantum teleportation in mid-2020, they confirmed in an academic journal article published last month. Its another step toward realizing whats often called quantum computing, and also toward understanding physics on a different level than we do now, perhaps well enough to someday teleport humans. And while there is no ETF specifically for that yet, here are some broad guidelines for thinking about how to invest in very nascent technologies.

For starters, its good to understand the broad contours of the industry supporting the idea. A 2020 market research analysis estimates the quantum computing market will top $65 billion per year by 2030, while a 2019 BCG report makes the case for investing now, rather than waiting for things to take off. As MarketWatch reported in late 2019, quantum computing is expected to remake everything from pharmaceuticals to cybersecurity.

Right now, there are several blue-chip biggies involved in the quantum race. Scientists from AT&T were involved in the 2020 experiments, and big companies like Microsoft MSFT, -2.13%, Tencent TCEHY, +1.34%, and IBM IBM, -1.54% all have initiatives.

Its easy enough to find exchange-traded funds with big holdings of those giants likely easier than finding publicly-traded small companies on the bleeding edge of these technologies but its also important to remember how small a share of their revenues experimental ventures like these are.

There are still some good models for funds constructed around developing industries like this one, noted Todd Rosenbluth, head of mutual fund and ETF research at CFRA. One is the Procure Space ETF UFO, -1.49%, which sports the ticker UFO. UFO launched before Virgin Galactic SPCE, -2.19% went public, at a moment when it was hard to call it a true pure-play space fund. As MarketWatch noted at the time, UFO is composed of companies involved in existing space-related business lines: ground equipment manufacturing that uses satellite systems, rocket and satellite manufacturing and operation, satellite-based telecommunications and broadcasting, and so on.

The one ETF that might now be said to be closest to offering access to quantum technology takes a similar approach. The Defiance Quantum ETF QTUM, +0.71% has quantum in its name, but says it provides exposure to companies on the forefront of cloud computing, quantum computing, machine learning, and other transformative computing technologies.

Another consideration might be an ETF specializing in very early-stage technology. In December, MarketWatch profiled the Innovator Loup Frontier Technology ETF LOUP, -0.08%. Rosenbluth has also been watching the Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF MOON, -0.66%.

Disruptive technology themes have gotten a boost from one of biggest success stories of 2020, he said in an interview. ARK Invests fund lineup took in billions of dollars and enjoyed triple-digit gains as their bets on technology had a moment.

The next-gen narrative seems to resonate with investors, and complex themes like these make a good case for investing in actively-managed funds that benefit from researchers expertise. That means that when it succeeds, Theres a snowball effect of investors coming to see the benefits of using ETFs for these kinds of themes, Rosenbluth said.

I think the future is bright for these types of ETFs, Rosenbluth told MarketWatch. Theres less white space in the ETF world than there was before, but its inevitable that there will be a teleportation-related ETF.

Read next: What will 2021 bring for ETFs?

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Quantum computing is so last-decade. Get ready to invest in the final frontier... teleportation - MarketWatch

The Year Ahead: 3 Predictions From the ‘Father of the Internet’ Vint Cerf – Nextgov

In 2011, the movie "Contagion" eerily predicted what a future world fighting a deadly pandemic would look like. In 2020, I, along with hundreds of thousands of people around the world, saw this Hollywood prediction play out by being diagnosed with COVID-19. It was a frightening year by any measure, as every person was impacted in unique ways.

Having been involved in the development of the Internet in the 1970s, Ive seen first-hand the impact of technology on peoples lives. We are now seeing another major milestone in our lifetimethe development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

What the"Contagion" didnt show is what happens after a vaccine is developed. Now, as we enter 2021, and with the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine being administered, a return to normal feels within reach. But what will our return to normal look like really? Here are threepredictions for 2021.

1. Continuous and episodic Internet of Medical Things monitoring devices will prove popular for remote medical diagnosis. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the practice of clinical medicine at least in the parts of the world where Internet access is widely available and at high enough speeds to support video conferencing. A video consult is often the only choice open to patients short of going to a hospital when outpatient care is insufficient. Video-medicine is unsatisfying in the absence of good clinical data (temperature, blood pressure, pulse for example). The consequence is that health monitoring and measurement devices are increasingly valued to support remote medical diagnosis.

My Prediction: While the COVID-19 pandemic persists into 2021, demand for remote monitoring and measurement will increase. In the long run, this will lead to periodic and continuous monitoring and alerting for a wide range of chronic medical conditions. Remote medicine and early warning health prediction will in turn help citizens save on health care costs and improve and further extend life expectancy.

2. Cities will (finally) adopt self-driving cars. Self-driving cars are anything but new, having emerged from a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Grand Challenge in 2004. Sixteen years later, many companies are competing to make this a reality but skeptics around this technology remain.

My Prediction: In the COVID-19 aftermath, I predict driverless car service will grow in 2021 as people will opt for rides that minimize exposure to drivers and self-clean after every passenger. More cities and states will embrace driverless technology to accommodate changing transportation and public transportation preferences.

3. A practical quantum computation will be demonstrated. In 2019, Google reported that it had demonstrated an important quantum supremacy milestone by showing a computation in minutes that would have taken a conventional computer thousands of years to complete. The computation, however, did not solve any particular practical problem.

My Prediction: In the intervening period, progress has been made and it seems likely that by 2021, we will see some serious application of quantum computing to solve one or more optimization problems in mechanical design, logistics scheduling or resource allocation that would be impractical with conventional supercomputing.

Despite the challenges 2020 presented, it also unlocked some opportunities like leapfrogging with tech adoption. My hope is that the public sector sustains the speed for innovation and development to unlock even greater advancements in the year ahead.

Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google. Cerf has held positions at MCI, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Stanford University, UCLA and IBM. Vint Cerf served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and was founding president of the Internet Society. He served on the U.S. National Science Board from 2013-2018.

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The Year Ahead: 3 Predictions From the 'Father of the Internet' Vint Cerf - Nextgov

AI Helps Solve Schrdinger’s Equation What Does The Future Hold? – Analytics India Magazine

Scientists at the Freie Universitt Berlin have come up with an AI-based solution for calculating the ground state of the Schrdinger equation in quantum chemistry.

The Schrdingers equation is primarily used to predict the chemical and physical properties of a molecule based on the arrangement of its atoms. The equation helps determine where the electrons and nuclei of a molecule are and under a given set of conditions what their energies are.

The equation has the same central importance as Newtons law motion, which can predict an objects position at a particular moment, but in quantum mechanics that is in atoms or subatomic particles.

The article describes how the neural network developed by the scientists at the Freie Universitt Berlin brings more accuracy in solving the Schrdingers equation and what does this mean for the future.

In principle, the Schrdingers equation can be solved to predict the exact location of atoms or subatomic particles in a molecule, but in practice, this is extremely difficult since it involves a lot of approximation.

Central to the equation is a mathematical object, a wave function that specifies electrons behaviour in a molecule. But the high dimensionality of the wave function makes it extremely difficult to find out how electrons affect each other. Thus the most you get from the mathematical representations is a probabilistic account of it and not exact answers.

This limits the accuracy with which we can find properties of a molecule like the configuration, conformation, size, and shape, which can help define the wave function. The process becomes so complex that it becomes impossible to implement the equation beyond a few atoms.

Replacing the mathematical building blocks, the scientists at Freie Universitt Berlin came up with a deep neural network that is capable of learning the complex patterns of how electrons are located around the nuclei.

The scientists developed a Deep Neural Networks (DNN) model, PauliNet, that has several advantages over conventional methods to study quantum systems like the Quantum Monte Carlo or other classical quantum chemistry methods.

The DNN model developed by these scientists is highly flexible and allows for a variational approach that can aid accurate calculation of electronic properties beyond the electronic energies.

Secondly, it also helps the easy calculation of many-body and more-complex correlation with fewer determinants, reducing the need for higher computation power. The model mainly helped solve a major tradeoff issue between accuracy and computational cost, often faced while solving the Schrodinger equation.

The model can also calculate the local energy of heavy nuclei like heavy metals without using pseudo-potentials or approximations.

Lastly, the model developed in the study has anti-symmetry functions and other principles crucial to electronic wave functions integrated into the DNN model, rather than let the model learn. Thus, building fundamental physics in the model has helped it make meaningful and accurate predictions.

In recent years, artificial intelligence has helped solve many scientific problems that otherwise seemed impossible using traditional methods.

AI has become instrumental in anticipating the results of experiments or simulations of quantum systems, especially due to its sciences complex nature. In 2018, reinforcement learning was used to design new quantum experiments in automated laboratories autonomously.

Recent efforts by the University of Warwick and another IBM and DeepMind have also tried to solve the Schrdingers equation. However, PauliNet, with its greater accuracy of solving the equation now, presents us with a potential to use it in many real-life applications.

Understanding molecules composition can help accelerate drug-discovery, which earlier was difficult due to the approximations to understand its properties.

Similarly, it could also help discover several other elements or metamaterials like new catalysts, industrial chemical applications, new pesticides, among others. It can be used in characterising molecules that are synthesised in laboratories.

Several academic and commercial software use Schrdingers equation at the core but are based on applications. The accuracy of this software will improve. Quantum computing in itself is based on quantum phenomena of superposition and is made up of qubits that take advantage of the principle. Quantum computing performance will improve as qubits will be able to be measured faster.

While the current study has come up with a faster, cheaper, and accurate solution, there are many challenges to overcome before it is industry-ready.

However, once it is ready, the world will witness many applications as a result of greater accuracy in solving Schrdingers equation.

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AI Helps Solve Schrdinger's Equation What Does The Future Hold? - Analytics India Magazine

Does Schrdinger’s Cat Think Quantum Computing Is a Sure Thing? – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Some hope that a move to quantum computingqubits instead of bits, analog instead of digitalwill work wonders, including the invention of the true thinking computer. In last weeks podcast, futurist George Gilder and computer engineer Robert J. Marks looked at, among other things, whats really happening with quantum computing:

(The quantum computing discussion begins at 15:04.)

Robert J. Marks: Whats your take on quantum computing? It seems to me that theres been glacial progress in the technology.

George Gilder (pictured): I think quantum computing is rather like AI, in that it moves the actual problem outside the computational process and gives the illusion that it solved the problem, but its really just pushed the problem out. Quantum computing is analog computing, thats what it is. Its changing primitives of the computation to quantum elements, which are presumably the substance of all matter in the universe.

Note: Quantum computing would use actual quantum elements (qubits) to compute instead of digital signals, thus taking advantage of their subatomic speed. But AI theorists have noted, that doesnt get around the halting problem (the computer actually doesnt know what it is doing). That means that a computer still wouldnt replicate human intelligence. That, in turn, is one reason that quantum supremacy can sound a lot like hype.

George Gilder: But still youve got to translate the symbols in the world, which in turn have to be translated from the objects in the world, into these qubits, which are quantum entities. Once youve defined all these connections and structured the data, then the problem is essentially solved by the process of defining it and inputting it into the computer but quantum computing again is a very special purpose machine, extremely special purpose. Because everything has to be exactly structured right for it.

Robert J. Marks: Yeah, thats my point. I think that once we get quantum computing and if it works well, we can also do quantum encryption, which quantum computing cant decode. So thats the next step. So yeah, thats fascinating stuff.

In his new book, Gaming AI (free download here. ), Gilder explains one of the ways quantum computing differs from digital computing:

The qubit is one of the most enigmatic tangles of matter and ghost in the entire armament of physics. Like a binary digit, it can register 0 or 1; what makes it quantum is that it can also register a nonbinary superposition of 0 and 1.

In 1989 I published a book, Microcosm, with the subtitle The Quantum Era in Economics and Technology. Microcosm made the observation that all computers are quantum machines in that they shun the mechanics of relays, cogs, and gears, and manipulate matter from the inside following quantum rules. But they translate all measurements and functions into rigorous binary logicevery bit is 1 or 0. At the time I was writing Microcosm, a few physicists were speculating about a computer that used qubits rather than bits, banishing this translation process and functioning directly in the quantum domain. (P. 39)

The quantum world impinges on computer technology whether we like it or not:

For example, today the key problem in microchips is to avoid spontaneous quantum tunneling, where electrons can find themselves on the other side of a barrier that by the laws of classical physics would have been insurmountable and impenetrable. In digital memory chips or processors, spontaneous tunneling can mean leakage and loss. In a quantum computer, though, such quantum effects may endow a portfolio of features, providing a tool or computational primitive that enables simulation of a world governed by quantum rules. (p. 40)

Quantum rules, while strange, might insure the integrity of a connection because entangled quantum particles respond to each other no matter how far they are separated:

A long-ago thought experiment of Einsteins showed that once any two photonsor other quantum entitiesinteract, they remain in each others influence no matter how far they travel across the universe (as long as they do not interact with something else). Schrdinger christened this entanglement: The spinor other quantum attributeof one behaves as if it reacts to what happens to the other, even when the two are impossibly remote. (p. 40)

So, apart from interaction, no one can change only the data on their side without it being noticed

Underlying all this heady particle physics and quantum computing speculations is actually a philosophical shift. As Gilder puts it in Gaming AI,

John Wheeler provocatively spoke of it from bit and the elementary act of observer-participancy: in short all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe.(p. 41)

Which is another way of saying that in reality information, rather than matter and energy, rules our universe.

Also discussed in last weeks podcast (with links to the series and transcripts):

While the West hesitates, China is moving to blockchain. Life After Google by George Gilder, advocating blockchain, became a best seller in China and received a social sciences award. George Gilder, also the author of Gaming AI, explains why Bitcoin might not do as well as blockchain in general, as a future currency source.

You may also enjoy: Will quantum mechanics produce the true thinking computer. Quantum computers come with real world problems of their own.

and

Why AI geniuses havent created true thinking machines. The problems have been hinting at themselves all along.

Next: Whats the future for carbon computing?

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Does Schrdinger's Cat Think Quantum Computing Is a Sure Thing? - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Cracking the secrets of an emerging branch of physics – MIT News

Thanh Nguyen is in the habit of breaking down barriers. Take languages, for instance: Nguyen, a third-year doctoral candidate in nuclear science and engineering (NSE), wanted to connect with other people and cultures for his work and social life, he says, so he learned Vietnamese, French, German, and Russian, and is now taking an MIT course in Mandarin. But this drive to push past obstacles really comes to the fore in his research, where Nguyen is trying to crack the secrets of a new and burgeoning branch of physics.

My dissertation focuses on neutron scattering on topological semimetals, which were only experimentally discovered in 2015, he says. They have very special properties, but because they are so novel, theres a lot thats unknown, and neutrons offer a unique perspective to probe their properties at a new level of clarity.

Topological materials dont fit neatly into conventional categories of substances found in everyday life. They were first materialized in the 1980s, but only became practical in the mid-2000s with deepened understanding of topology, which concerns itself with geometric objects whose properties remain the same even when the objects undergo extreme deformation. Researchers experimentally discovered topological materials even more recently, using the tools of quantum physics.

Within this domain, topological semimetals, which share qualities of both metals and semiconductors, are of special interest to Nguyen.They offer high levels of thermal and electric conductivity, and inherent robustness, which makes them very promising for applications in microelectronics, energy conversions, and quantum computing, he says.

Intrigued by the possibilities that might emerge from such unconventional physics, Nguyen is pursuing two related but distinct areas of research: On the one hand, Im trying to identify and then synthesize new, robust topological semimetals, and on the other, I want to detect fundamental new physics with neutrons and further design new devices.

On a fast research track

Reaching these goals over the next few years might seem a tall order. But at MIT, Nguyen has seized every opportunity to master the specialized techniques required for conducting large-scale experiments with topological materials, and getting results. Guided by his advisor,Mingda Li, the Norman C Rasmussen Assistant Professor and director of theQuantum Matter Group within NSE, Nguyen was able to dive into significant research even before he set foot on campus.

The summer, before I joined the group, Mingda sent me on a trip to Argonne National Laboratory for a very fun experiment that used synchrotron X-ray scattering to characterize topological materials, recalls Nguyen. Learning the techniques got me fascinated in the field, and I started to see my future.

During his first two years of graduate school, he participated in four studies, serving as a lead author in three journal papers. In one notable project,described earlier this year in Physical Review Letters, Nguyen and fellow Quantum Matter Group researchers demonstrated, through experiments conducted at three national laboratories, unexpected phenomena involving the way electrons move through a topological semimetal, tantalum phosphide (TaP).

These materials inherently withstand perturbations such as heat and disorders, and can conduct electricity with a level of robustness, says Nguyen. With robust properties like this, certain materials can conductivity electricity better than best metals, and in some circumstances superconductors which is an improvement over current generation materials.

This discovery opens the door to topological quantum computing. Current quantum computing systems, where the elemental units of calculation are qubits that perform superfast calculations, require superconducting materials that only function in extremely cold conditions. Fluctuations in heat can throw one of these systems out of whack.

The properties inherent to materials such as TaP could form the basis of future qubits, says Nguyen. He envisions synthesizing TaP and other topological semimetals a process involving the delicate cultivation of these crystalline structures and then characterizing their structural and excitational properties with the help of neutron and X-ray beam technology, which probe these materials at the atomic level. This would enable him to identify and deploy the right materials for specific applications.

My goal is to create programmable artificial structured topological materials, which can directly be applied as a quantum computer, says Nguyen. With infinitely better heat management, these quantum computing systems and devices could prove to be incredibly energy efficient.

Physics for the environment

Energy efficiency and its benefits have long concerned Nguyen. A native of Montreal, Quebec, with an aptitude for math and physics and a concern for climate change, he devoted his final year of high school to environmental studies. I worked on a Montreal initiative to reduce heat islands in the city by creating more urban parks, he says. Climate change mattered to me, and I wanted to make an impact.

At McGill University, he majored in physics. I became fascinated by problems in the field, but I also felt I could eventually apply what I learned to fulfill my goals of protecting the environment, he says.

In both classes and research, Nguyen immersed himself in different domains of physics. He worked for two years in a high-energy physics lab making detectors for neutrinos, part of a much larger collaboration seeking to verify the Standard Model. In the fall of his senior year at McGill, Nguyens interest gravitated toward condensed matter studies. I really enjoyed the interplay between physics and chemistry in this area, and especially liked exploring questions in superconductivity, which seemed to have many important applications, he says. That spring, seeking to add useful skills to his research repertoire, he worked at Ontarios Chalk River Laboratories, where he learned to characterize materials using neutron spectroscopes and other tools.

These academic and practical experiences served to propel Nguyen toward his current course of graduate study. Mingda Li proposed an interesting research plan, and although I didnt know much about topological materials, I knew they had recently been discovered, and I was excited to enter the field, he says.

Man with a plan

Nguyen has mapped out the remaining years of his doctoral program, and they will prove demanding. Topological semimetals are difficult to work with, he says. We dont yet know the optimal conditions for synthesizing them, and we need to make these crystals, which are micrometers in scale, in quantities large enough to permit testing.

With the right materials in hand, he hopes to develop a qubit structure that isnt so vulnerable to perturbations, quickly advancing the field of quantum computing so that calculations that now take years might require just minutes or seconds, he says. Vastly higher computational speeds could have enormous impacts on problems like climate, or health, or finance that have important ramifications for society. If his research on topological materials benefits the planet or improves how people live, says Nguyen, I would be totally happy.

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Cracking the secrets of an emerging branch of physics - MIT News

Quantum Computing Is Bigger Than Donald Trump – WIRED

Just this week the Senate had a hearing, ostensibly about speech on internet platforms. But what the hearing was really about was our continuing inability to figure out what to do with a technological infrastructure that gives every single person on the planet the ability to broadcast their thoughts, whether illuminating or poisonous. We know that solutions are elusive, especially in the context of our current electoral issues. But this is actually one of the less vexing conundrums that technology has dropped on our lap. What are we going to do about Crispr? How are we going to handle artificial intelligence, before it handles us? A not-encouraging sign of our ability to deal with change: While we werent looking, smart phones have made us cyborgs.

Heres another example of a change that might later look more significant than our current focus: Late last year, Google announced it had achieved Quantum Supremacy, This means that it solved a problem with its experimental quantum computer that couldnt be solved with a conventional one, or even a supercomputer.

Its a forgone conclusion that quantum computing is going to happen. When it does, what we thought was a speed limit will evaporate. Nobodynobody!has an idea of what can come from this. I bet it might even be bigger than whatever Donald Trump will do in a second (or third or fourth) term, or the civil disorder that might erupt if he isnt returned to the Peoples House.

A few days after the election, on that same West Coast trip, I had a random street encounter with one of the most important leaders in technology. We spoke informally for maybe 15 or 20 minutes about what had happened. He seemed shattered by the outcome, but no more than pretty much everyone I knew. He told me that he asked himself, should I have done more? Like all of the top people in the industry, he has since had to make his accommodations with the Trump administration. But as with all his peers, he has not relented on his drive to create new technology that will continue the remarkable and worrisome transformation of humanity.

The kind of people who work for him will keep doing what they do. Maybe they will no longer want to work for a company thats overly concerned about winning the favoror avoiding the disfavorof a president who they think is racist, a president who despises immigrants (wife and in-laws excepted), a president who encourages dictators and casts doubts on voting. If things get bad in this country, a lot of those engineers and scientists will leave, and a lot of other countries will welcome them. The adventure will continue. Even if the United States as we know it does not last another generation, scientists will continue advancing artificial intelligence, brain-machine interfaces, and, of course, quantum computing. And thats what our time will be known for.

Yes, a thousand years from now, historians will study the Donald Trump phenomenon and what it meant for our gutsy little experiment in democracy, as well as for the world at large. I am still confident, however, that historians will find more importance in learning about the moments in our lifetimes when science changed everything.

What I am not confident about is predicting how those future historians will do their work, and to what extent people of our time would regard those historians as human beings, or some exotic quantum Crispr-ed cyborgs. Thats something that Donald Trump will have no hand in. And why its so important, even as politics intrude on our everyday existence, to do the work of chronicling this great and fearsome adventure.

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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything – ZDNet

Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.

But Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it's already seeing promising results.

The company's engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.

SEE: Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion (TechRepublic Premium)

Save-On-Foods is now looking at expanding the technology to other stores, and exploring new ways that quantum could help with other issues. "We now have the capability to run tests and simulations by adjusting variables and see the results, so we can optimize performance, which simply isn't feasible using traditional methods," a Save-On-Foods spokesperson tells ZDNet.

"While the results are outstanding, the two most important things from this are that we were able to use quantum computing to attack our most complex problems across the organization, and can do it on an ongoing basis."

The remarkable properties of quantum computing boil down to the behaviour of qubits -- the quantum equivalent of classical bits that encode information for today's computers in strings of 0s and 1s. But contrary to bits, which can be represented by either 0 or 1, qubits can take on a state that is quantum-specific, in which they exist as 0 and 1 in parallel, or superposition.

Qubits, therefore, enable quantum algorithms to run various calculations at the same time, and at exponential scale: the more qubits, the more variables can be explored, and all in parallel. Some of the largest problems, which would take classical computers tens of thousands of years to explore with single-state bits, could be harnessed by qubits in minutes.

The challenge lies in building quantum computers that contain enough qubits for useful calculations to be carried out. Qubits are temperamental: they are error-prone, hard to control, and always on the verge of falling out of their quantum state. Typically, scientists have to encase quantum computers in extremely cold, large-scale refrigerators, just to make sure that qubits remain stable. That's impractical, to say the least.

This is, in essence, why quantum computing is still in its infancy. Most quantum computers currently work with less than 100 qubits, and tech giants such as IBM and Google are racing to increase that number in order to build a meaningful quantum computer as early as possible. Recently, IBM ambitiously unveiled a roadmap to a million-qubit system, and said that it expects a fault-tolerant quantum computer to be an achievable goal during the next ten years.

IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna and director of research Dario Gil in front of a ten-foot-tall super-fridge for the company's next-generation quantum computers.

Although it's early days for quantum computing, there is still plenty of interest from businesses willing to experiment with what could prove to be a significant development. "Multiple companies are conducting learning experiments to help quantum computing move from the experimentation phase to commercial use at scale," Ivan Ostojic, partner at consultant McKinsey, tells ZDNet.

Certainly tech companies are racing to be seen as early leaders. IBM's Q Network started running in 2016 to provide developers and industry professionals with access to the company's quantum processors, the latest of which, a 65-qubit device called Hummingbird, was released on the platform last month. Recently, US multinational Honeywell took its first steps on the quantum stage, making the company's trapped-ion quantum computer available to customers over the cloud. Rigetti Computing, which has been operating since 2017, is also providing cloud-based access to a 31-qubit quantum computer.

Another approach, called quantum annealing, is especially suitable for optimisation tasks such as the logistics problems faced by Save-On-Foods. D-Wave has proven a popular choice in this field, and has offered a quantum annealer over the cloud since 2010, which it has now upgraded to a 5,000-qubit-strong processor.

A quantum annealing processor is much easier to control and operate than the devices that IBM, Honeywell and Rigetti are working on, which are called gate-model quantum computers. This is why D-Wave's team has already hit much higher numbers of qubits. However, quantum annealing is only suited to specific optimisation problems, and experts argue that the technology will be comparatively limited when gate-model quantum computers reach maturity.

The suppliers of quantum processing power are increasingly surrounded by third-party companies that act as intermediaries with customers. Zapata, QC Ware or 1QBit, for example, provide tools ranging from software stacks to training, to help business leaders get started with quantum experiments.

SEE: What is the quantum internet? Everything you need to know about the weird future of quantum networks

In other words, the quantum ecosystem is buzzing with activity, and is growing fast. "Companies in the industries where quantum will have the greatest potential for complete disruption should get involved in quantum right now," says Ostojic.

And the exponential compute power of quantum technologies, according to the analyst, will be a game-changer in many fields. Qubits, with their unprecedented ability to solve optimisation problems, will benefit any organisation with a supply chain and distribution route, while shaking up the finance industry by maximising gains from portfolios. Quantum-infused artificial intelligence also holds huge promise, with models expected to benefit from better training on bigger datasets.

One example: by simulating molecular interactions that are too complex for classical computers to handle, qubits will let biotech companies fast-track the discovery of new drugs and materials. Microsoft, for example, has already demonstrated how quantum computers can help manufacture fertilizers with better yields. This could have huge implications for the agricultural sector, as it faces the colossal task of sustainably feeding the growing global population in years to come.

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking and cybersecurity are often cited as sectors that quantum technology could significantly transform. "In principle, quantum will be relevant for all CIOs as it will accelerate solutions to a large range of problems," says Ostojic. "Those companies need to become owners of quantum capability."

Chemistry, oil and gas, transportation, logistics, banking or cybersecurity are among the industries that are often pointed to as examples of the fields that quantum technology could transform.

There is a caveat. No CIO should expect to achieve too much short-term value from quantum computing in its current form. However fast-growing the quantum industry is, the field remains defined by the stubborn instability of qubits, which still significantly limits the capability of quantum computers.

"Right now, there is no problem that a quantum computer can solve faster than a classical computer, which is of value to a CIO," insists Heike Riel, head of science and technology at IBM Research Quantum Europe. "But you have to be very careful, because the technology is evolving fast. Suddenly, there might be enough qubits to solve a problem that is of high value to a business with a quantum computer."

And when that day comes, there will be a divide between the companies that prepared for quantum compute power, and those that did not. This is what's at stake for business leaders who are already playing around with quantum, explains Riel. Although no CIO expects quantum to deliver value for the next five to ten years, the most forward-thinking businesses are already anticipating the wave of innovation that the technology will bring about eventually -- so that when it does, they will be the first to benefit from it.

This means planning staffing, skills and projects, and building an understanding of how quantum computing can help solve actual business problems. "This is where a lot of work is going on in different industries, to figure out what the true problems are, which can be solved with a quantum computer and not a classical computer, and which would make a big difference in terms of value," says Riel.

Riel points to the example of quantum simulation for battery development, which companies like car manufacturer Daimler are investigating in partnership with IBM. To increase the capacity and speed-of-charging of batteries for electric vehicles, Daimler's researchers are working on next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries, which require the alignment of various compounds in the most stable configuration possible. To find the best placement of molecules, all the possible interactions between the particles that make up the compound's molecules must be simulated.

This task can be carried out by current supercomputers for simple molecules, but a large-scale quantum solution could one day break new ground in developing the more complex compounds that are required for better batteries.

"Of course, right now the molecules we are simulating with quantum are small in size because of the limited size of the quantum computer," says Riel. "But when we scale the next generation of quantum computers, then we can solve the problem despite the complexity of the molecules."

SEE: 10 tech predictions that could mean huge changes ahead

Similar thinking led oil and gas giant ExxonMobilto join the network of companies that are currently using IBM's cloud-based quantum processors. ExxonMobil started collaborating with IBM in 2019, with the objective of one day using quantum to design new chemicals for low energy processing and carbon capture.

The company's director of corporate strategic research Amy Herhold explains that for the past year, ExxonMobil's scientists have been tapping IBM's quantum capabilities to simulate macroscopic material properties such as heat capacity. The team has focused so far on the smallest of molecules, hydrogen gas, and is now working on ways to scale the method up to larger molecules as the hardware evolves.

A number of milestones still need to be achieved before quantum computing translates into an observable business impact, according to Herhold. Companies will need to have access to much larger quantum computers with low error rates, as well as to appropriate quantum algorithms that address key problems.

"While today's quantum computers cannot solve business-relevant problems -- they are too small and the qubits are too noisy -- the field is rapidly advancing," Herhold tells ZDNet. "We know that research and development is critical on both the hardware and the algorithm front, and given how different this is from classical computing, we knew it would take time to build up our internal capabilities. This is why we decided to get going."

Herhold anticipates that quantum hardware will grow at a fast pace in the next five years. The message is clear: when it does, ExxonMobil's research team will be ready.

One industry that has shown an eager interest in quantum technology is the financial sector. From JP Morgan Chase's partnerships with IBM and Honeywell, to BBVA's use of Zapata's services, banks are actively exploring the potential of qubits, and with good reason. Quantum computers, by accounting for exponentially high numbers of factors and variables, could generate much better predictions of financial risk and uncertainty, and boost the efficiency of key operations such as investment portfolio optimisation or options pricing.

Similar to other fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for the financial industry. In fact, when solving smaller problems, scientists still run quantum algorithms alongside classical computers to validate the results.

"The classical simulator has an exact answer, so you can check if you're getting this exact answer with the quantum computer," explains Tony Uttley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, as he describes the process of quantum options pricing in finance.

"And you better be, because as soon as we cross that boundary, where we won't be able to classically simulate anymore, you better be convinced that your quantum computer is giving you the right answer. Because that's what you'll be taking into your business processes."

Companies that are currently working on quantum solutions are focusing on what Uttley calls the "path to value creation". In other words, they are using quantum capabilities as they stand to run small-scale problems, building trust in the technology as they do so, while they wait for capabilities to grow and enable bigger problems to be solved.

In many fields, most of the research is dedicated to exploring proof-of-concepts for quantum computing in industry.

Tempting as it might be for CIOs to hope for short-term value from quantum services, it's much more realistic to look at longer timescales, maintains Uttley. "Imagine you have a hammer, and somebody tells you they want to build a university campus with it," he says. "Well, looking at your hammer, you should ask yourself how long it's going to take to build that."

Quantum computing holds the promise that the hammer might, in the next few years, evolve into a drill and then a tower crane. The challenge, for CIOs, is to plan now for the time that the tools at their disposal get the dramatic boost that's expected by scientists and industry players alike.

It is hard to tell exactly when that boost will come. IBM's roadmap announces that the company will reach 1,000 qubits in 2023, which could mark the start of early value creation in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, thanks to the simulation of small molecules. But although the exact timeline is uncertain, Uttley is adamant that it's never too early to get involved.

"Companies that are forward-leaning already have teams focused on this and preparing their organisations to take advantage of it once we cross the threshold to value creation," he says. "So what I tend to say is: engage now. The capacity is scarce, and if you're not already at the front of the line, it may be quite a while before you get in."

Creating business value is a priority for every CIO. At the same time, the barrier to entry for quantum computing is lowering every time a new startup emerges to simplify the software infrastructure and assist non-experts in kickstarting their use of the technology. So there's no time to lose in embracing the technology. Securing a first-class spot in the quantum revolution, when it comes, is likely to be worth it.

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Quantum computers are coming. Get ready for them to change everything - ZDNet

Quantum Computing Expert Warns Governments May Be First to Crack Algorithms Keeping Bitcoin and the Internet Secure – The Daily Hodl

Applied mathematician Peter Shor says government agencies could be the first to figure out a way to enable quantum computers to break algorithms that keep Bitcoin and the internet secure.

In an interview with Nature Magazine, the MIT professor of applied mathematics talks about the looming possibility that quantum computers can crack encryption keys, called RSA, that keep the internet and cryptocurrencies safe from security threats. Shor says that if theres anyone who can break the RSA first, it will be government bodies such as the National Security Agency (NSA).

The first people who break RSA either are going to be NSA or some other big organization. At first, these computers will be slow. If you have a computer that can only break, say, one RSA key per hour, anything thats not a high priority or a national-security risk is not going to be broken. The NSA has much more important things to use their quantum computer on than reading your e-mail theyll be reading the Chinese ambassadors e-mail.

Crypto enthusiasts are keeping close tabs on developments in the quantum computing space as the technology threatens to break the cryptographic algorithms that keep cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin secure. The World Economic Forum describes how quantum computing machines can crack the existing standards of encryption.

The sheer calculating ability of a sufficiently powerful and error-corrected quantum computer means that public-key cryptography is destined to fail, and would put the technology used to protect many of todays fundamental digital systems and activities at risk.

Recently, industrial powerhouse Honeywell announced that it built the System Model H1 quantum computer, which the company touts generates the highest quantum volume in the entire industry.

As to whether quantum computing poses an existential threat to the crypto industry, Ripple CTO David Schwartz says it could become powerful enough to break cryptographic algorithms within a decade.

I think we have at least eight years. I have very high confidence that its at least a decade before quantum computing presents a threat, but you never know when there could be a breakthrough. Im a cautious and concerned observer, I would say.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/archy13

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Quantum Computing Expert Warns Governments May Be First to Crack Algorithms Keeping Bitcoin and the Internet Secure - The Daily Hodl

Australia’s Archer and its plan for quantum world domination – ZDNet

Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair and quantum technology manager Dr Martin Fuechsle

Quantum computing will revolutionise the world; its potential is so immeasurable that the greatest minds in Redmond, Armonk, and Silicon Valley are spending big on quantum development. But a company by the name of Archer Materials wants to put Sydney, Australia, on the map alongside, if not ahead, of these tech giants.

Universal quantum computers leverage the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with the number of quantum bits (qubits).

Here's an explanation: What is quantum computing? Understanding the how, why and when of quantum computers

"Quantum computing represents the next generation of powerful computing, you don't really have to know how your phone works on the inside, you just want it to do things that you couldn't do before," Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair told ZDNet.

"And with quantum computing, you can do things that you couldn't necessarily do before."

There is currently a very small set number of tasks that a quantum computer can do, but Choucair is hopeful that in the future this will grow to be a little bit more consumer-based and business-faced.

Right now, however, quantum computing, for all intents and purposes, is at a very early stage. It's not going to completely displace a classical computer, but it will give the capacity to do more with what we currently have. Choucair believes this will positively impact a range of sectors that are reliant on an increasing amount of computational power.

"This comes to light when you start to want to optimise very large portfolios, or perform a whole bunch of data crunching, AI and all sorts of buzzwords -- but ultimately, you're looking for more computational power. And you can genuinely get speed-ups in computational power based on certain algorithms for certain problems that are currently being identified," he explained.

"The problems that quantum computers can solve are currently being identified and the end users are being engaged."

Archer describes itself as a materials technology company. Its proposition is simple at heart: "Materials are the tangible physical basis of all technology. We're developing and integrating materials to address complex global challenges in quantum technology, human health, and reliable energy".

There are many components to quantum computing, but Archer is building a qubit processor. 12CQ is touted by the company as a "world-first technology that Archer aims to build for quantum computing operation at room-temperature and integration onboard modern electronic devices".

"We're not building the entire computer, we're building the chipset, the processer at the core of it," Choucair told ZDNet. "That really forms the brain of a quantum computer.

"The difference with us is that we really are looking at on-board use, rather than the heavy infrastructure that's required to house the existing quantum computing architectures.

"This is not all airy-fairy and it is not all of blue sky; it's real, there's proven potential, we've published the workwe have the data, we have the science behind us -- it took seven years of immense, immersive R&D."

Archer is building the chip inside a AU$180 million prototype foundry out of the University of Sydney. The funding was provided by the university as well as government.

"Everyone's playing their role to get this to market," he said.

Choucair is convinced that the potential when Archer "gets this right" will be phenomenal.

"Once you get a minimal viable product, and you can demonstrate the technology can indeed work at room temperature and be integrated into modern-day electronics. I think that's, that's quite disruptive. And it's quite exciting," he said.

Magnified region observing the round qubit clusters which are billionths of a meter in size in the centre of qubit control device components (appearing as parallel lines).

Choucair found himself at Archer in 2017 after the company acquired a startup he founded. Straight away, he and the board got started on the strategy it's currently executing on.

"There is very, very small margin for error from the start, in the middle, at the end -- you need to know what you're getting yourself into, what you're doingthis is why I think we've been able to be so successful moving forward, we've been so rapid in our development, because we know exactly what needs to get done," Choucair said.

"The chip is a world firstscience can fail at any stage, everybody knows that, but more often than not, it may or may not -- how uncertain do you want something to be? So for us, the more and more we develop our chip, the higher chances of success become."

Read more about Archer's commercial strategy here: Archer looks to commercialisation future with graphene-based biosensor tech

Choucair said materials technology itself was able to reduce a lot of the commercial barriers to entry for Archer, which meant the company could take the work out of the university much sooner.

"The material technology allowed us to do things without the need for heavy cooling infrastructure, which costs millions and millions of dollars and had to be housed in buildings that cost millions and millions of dollars,' he explained. "Massive barrier reduced, material could be made simply from common laboratory agents, which means you didn't have to build a billion-dollar facility to control atoms and do all these crazy scientific things at the atomic level.

"And so, really, you end up with the materials technology that was simple to handle, easy to make, and worked at room temperature, and you're like, wow, okay, so now the job for us is to actually build the chip and miniaturise this stuff, which is challenging in itself."

The CEO of the unexplainable has an impressive resum. He landed at Archer with a strong technical background in nanotechnology, served a two-year mandate on the World Economic Forum Global Council for Advanced Materials, is a fellow of both The Royal Society of New South Wales and The Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and was an academic and research fellow at the University of Sydney's School of Chemistry.

Choucair also has in his armoury Dr Martin Fuechsle, who is recognised for developing the world's smallest transistor, a "single-atom transistor".

"Fuechsle is among the few highly talented physicists in the world capable of building quantum devices that push the boundaries of current information processing technology," Choucair said in January 2019, announcing Fuechsle's appointment. "His skills, experience, and exceptional track record strongly align to Archer's requirements for developing our key vertical of quantum technology."

SEE:Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion(TechRepublic Premium)

Archer is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, but Choucair would reject any claims of it being a crazy proposition.

"20 years ago, a company that was maybe offering something as abstract as an online financial payment system would have been insane too, but if you have a look at the top 10 companies on the Nasdaqa lot of their core business is embedded in the development of computational architecture, computational hardware," he said.

"We're a very small company, I'm not comparing myself to a Nasdaq-listed company. I'm just saying, the core businessI think it's a unique offering and differentiates us on a stock exchange."

He said quantum technology is something that people are starting to value and see as having potential and scale of opportunity.

Unlike many of the other quantum players in Australia and abroad, Archer is not a result of a spin-off from a university, Choucair claimed.

"The one thing about Archer is that we're not a university spin out -- I think that's what sets us apart, not just in Australia, but globally," he said. "A lot of the time, the quantum is at a university, this is where you go to learn about quantum computing, so it's only natural that it does come out of a university."

Historically, Australia has a reputation of being bad at commercialising research and development. But our curriculum vitae speaks for itself: Spray-on skin, the black box flight recorder, polymer bank notes, and the Cochlear implant, to name a few.

According to Choucair, quantum is next.

"We really are leading the world; we well and truly punch above our weight when it comes to the work that's been done, we lead the world," he said.

"And that quantum technology is across quantum computing and photonics, and sensing -- it's not just quantum computing. We do have a lot of great scientists and those who are developing the technology."

But as highlighted in May by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in its quantum technologies roadmap, there are a lot of gaps that need to be filled over the long term.

"We just have to go out there and get the job done," Choucair said.

"In Australia we have resource constraints, just like anywhere else in the world. And I think there's always a lot more that can be donewe're not doing deep tech as a luxury in this country. From the very top down, there is an understanding, I believe, from our government and from key institutes in the nation that this is what will help us drive forward as a nation."

Archer isn't the only group focused on the promise of quantum tech down under, but Choucair said there's no animosity within the Aussie ecosystem.

Read about UNSW's efforts: Australia's ambitious plan to win the quantum race

There's also a partnership between two universities: UNSW and Sydney Uni quantum partnership already bearing fruit

"I think we all understand that there's a greater mission at stake here. And we all want, I can't speak on everyone's behalf, but at Archer we definitely have vision of making quantum computing widespread -- adopted by consumers and businesses, that's something that we really want to do," he said.

"We have fantastic support here in Australia, there's no doubt about it."

A lot of the work in the quantum space is around education, as Choucair said, it's not something that just comes out of abstractness and then just exists.

"You have to remember this stuff's all been built off 20, 30, 40 years of research and development, quantum mechanics, engineering, science, and tech -- hundreds and thousands of brilliant minds over the course of two-three generations," the CEO explained.

While the technology is here, and people are building algorithms that only run on quantum computers, there is still another 20-or-so years of development to follow.

"This field is not a fast follower field, you don't just get up in the morning and put your slippers on and say you're going to build a quantum computer," he added.

Archer is also part of the IBM Q Network, which is a global network of startups, Fortune 500 companies, and academic research institutes that have access to IBM's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud.

Archer joined the network in May as the first Australian company that's developing a qubit processor.

Choucair said the work cannot be done without partnerships and collaboration alongside the best in the world.

"Yes, there is a race to build quantum computers, but I think more broadly than a race, to just enable the widespread adoption of the technology. And that's not easy. And that takes a concerted effort," he said. "And at this early stage of development, there is a lot of overlap and collaboration.

"There's a bit of a subculture that Australia can't do it -- yeah, we can.

"There's no excuses, right? We're doing it, we're building it, we're getting there. We're working with the very best in the world."

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Australia's Archer and its plan for quantum world domination - ZDNet

Quantum computing | Ground-breaking commercial opportunities from solving the (as yet) unsolvable – Lexology

Quantum computers will support powerful commercial applications by solving currently intractable problems. We consider the pathway to bringing this technology to market, and some of the related legal issues.

Even with the biggest supercomputers in the world, some problems remain too complex to unravel.

This is not just an academic issue many valuable commercial applications can be imagined but not delivered, or can currently only be delivered in a limited, constrained way. This includes:

As our guest speaker Michael Beverland of Microsoft Quantum explained at our recent webinar , these are the kinds of problem which quantum computers are expected to be able to resolve. The ability to solve "intractable" problems is expected to be transformative in ways we can currently only guess at. From a legal and policy perspective, quantum computing is already considered to be a strategic technology in many jurisdictions, potentially subject to export controls and with increasing scrutiny around investments and acquisitions concerning businesses in this field.

Mathematicians have already proved that quantum computing will be able to outperform classical computing in relation to cybersecurity. It will be possible to break currently secure forms of encryption such as RSA with a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. We'll be considering this issue and the resulting legal risks at a further webinar.

The power of qubits

Quantum computing is different to classical computing in every sense. It rethinks computer processing by structuring it around the utterly different physics that applies at the sub-atomic level quantum mechanics. Classical computers rely on processing bits in two alternative states: one or zero. However large and sophisticated the machine, each bit represents a single state and processing happens in a linear fashion, one task at a time.

Put very simply, quantum processing units, or "qubits", work differently: not only can an infinite number of positions be represented on a single qubit, but an individual qubit interacts with all other qubits in the system. This means that their states can be understood simultaneously, rather than the sequential approach of single state bits of classical computing. With a sufficiently large quantum computer, all elements of a problem can be represented and processed at the same time.

As the number of qubits in a single system increases, its processing power increases exponentially. So a 20 qubit machine is loosely as powerful as a smart phone; a 30 qubit machine is comparable to a laptop and a 50 qubit machine roughly the point which quantum hardware development has currently reached is equal to the world's most powerful supercomputers.

The aspiration of quantum computing researchers is to build far greater quantum computers which can unravel currently intractable problems. This is not just a matter of increasing the qubits: a further challenge is the currently high error rate in outputs. As this is addressed, the useable power of a quantum computer will increase.

The timeframe for change

Forecasting when quantum systems will reach the point where they can solve these complex problems depends on the problem. Not all intractable problems are equal. As Michael explained in our webinar, modelling certain molecules, for example, is likely to be achieved some time before RSA 2048 encryption will be broken. Views differ, but some predictions put the advent of game-changing machines as close as five years away.

Systems that harness quantum mechanics in less complex ways are also being developed and are already available commercially quantum annealing machines are one such example, which can be used for addressing optimisation problems. Even if scalable quantum computing is not yet with us, many businesses are already involved or investing in pathway projects to expand ideas about what can be achieved, and to build understanding of how to deliver those ideas.

Bringing the technology to market

Developments in relation to hardware tend to get the most publicity, but extensive and difficult work is also needed to create the full software stack. This technology promises to be a whole new ecosystem within the tech sector. Michael commented that this multidisciplinary research requires physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and various engineering specialisms; and that significant problems remain in each field.

The complexity of the hardware is one factor driving the expectation that the commercial delivery of quantum computing will follow the cloud services model quantum computing "as a Service". This expectation is reinforced by the ubiquitous shift into cloud-based delivery for processing of all types.

Liability frameworks

How will "Quantum-as-a-Service" develop? Cloud services contracts for full stack applications are well established. Granting "Beta" access to software and systems which are still in development is also common. Nevertheless, the particularities of quantum computing may require rethinking the contractual frameworks for suppliers and users of this technology.

For example, liability under English law requires foreseeability of harm. Exclusion clauses seek to deal with losses that flowed naturally from the breach of contract and were in the contemplation of the parties. The complex and "spooky" interactions of the qubits at the heart of a quantum system will remain considerably less stable, and potentially also less predictable, than the robust reliability of classical systems for some time to come. Such complexity may mean that it is much more difficult for the parties to anticipate the difficulties which could arise. As commercial access to these systems develops, it may well be that a new approach is needed to framing and allocating liability.

It may also be that there is greater scope for negotiating bespoke cloud-based access than would usually be the case with the major cloud service providers. Smaller scale access to the technology at lower contract values may well be on standard terms and conditions, with limited flexibility. But strategic partnerships may well be bespoke arrangements, particularly in the early years and particularly for projects which feed into greater understanding of how to harness the power of quantum systems, and which develop and expand understanding of commercial applications.

Service levels

Similarly, although overall performance is expected to be higher, the lower stability and higher error rate (compared to classical systems) of quantum computing may also mean that the parameters for measuring service levels need to be re-thought. The ways of proving the level of service actually delivered to the service user may equally require a fresh approach given how quantum computing solutions operate.

Quantum computing is currently in its early, pioneering phase similar to classical computing in the middle of the last century, before silicon or miniaturisation and before anyone had any concept of how the internet, smart phones or machine learning would change how we operate. We are looking forward to working with our clients to realise and deliver this exciting new era of computing.

If you'd like to discuss the issues discussed above further, please dont hesitate to contact the authors or your usual Osborne Clarke contact.

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Quantum computing | Ground-breaking commercial opportunities from solving the (as yet) unsolvable - Lexology

The Week of October 19, 2020 – FYI: Science Policy News

DOE Selects Reactor Projects for New Demonstration Program

On Oct. 13, the Department of Energy announced awards of $80 million each for two nuclear reactor development projects, funding the first year of new cost-sharing partnerships that aim to demonstrate working prototypes. One of the recipients is TerraPower, a venture backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates that is developing a reactor design known as Natrium, which uses molten salt as a coolant and aims to be more economical than traditional nuclear power plants. The other recipient is X-energy, which is developing a reactor called Xe-100 that is cooled by helium gas and fueled by TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) fuel pellets that are designed to make meltdowns impossible and enable refueling without a plant shutdown. Congress created the demonstration program through last years appropriations legislation and, while the Trump administration has proposed discontinuing the awards, DOE anticipates it will spend a total of $3.2 billion on them over the next seven years if the funding is made available. The department also expects to make smaller awards in December to between two and five reactor development projects for reducing technical risks, and to at least two early-stage reactor concept development projects. Through its Project Pele, the Defense Department is also funding the development of three TRISO-based designs for mobile nuclear reactors, including one proposed by X-energy, and may eventually support one of the projects through to a prototype demonstration.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 17 that Chinese government representatives have privately warned U.S. officials that Americans in China may be detained in response to recent arrests of scientists with ties to Chinas military. This summer, the Department of Justice charged three visiting researchers and one graduate student with visa fraud, alleging they lied about their connections to the Chinese military on visa applications. It also charged a visiting researcher for destroying a hard drive, arguing the act interfered with an investigation into possible transfer of sensitive software to Chinas National University of Defense Technology. The department did not confirm the threats to the Journal, but stated, We are aware that the Chinese government has, in other instances, detained American, Canadian, and other individuals without legal basis to retaliate against lawful prosecutions and to exert pressure on their governments, with a callous disregard of the individuals involved. In 2018, China arrested two Canadian citizens shortly after Canada detained the chief financial officer of the telecommunications company Huawei, whom the U.S. had charged with evading sanctions against Iran.

The American Physical Society announced last week it has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department seeking details on therecent revocation of more than 1,000 visas held by Chinese students and researchers. A May 2020 proclamation by President Trump empowered the department to cancel visas for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers deemed to have current or past ties to an unnamed set of institutions affiliated with the Chinese military. APS states that no administration officials they met with could or were willing to provide any details, such as: an example of a case of student espionage involving university basic research; the number of students the administration claims have engaged in or are charged with espionage; or, an estimate of the impact to the U.S. of the alleged espionage that would form the basis for the proclamation. The FOIA request seeks all internal policy documents related to the proclamation, the names of institutions it applies to, and the names of the U.S. institutions the visa holders were planning to attend, among other details. The request argues, Lacking any public explanation, the denial of visas will only contribute to the growing view that the United States is unwelcoming to foreigners and thereby diminish the ability of the United States to attract top talent, as the APS has seen in its annual survey of international students. (APS is an AIP Member Society.)

The White House published a National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies last week that outlines general steps the U.S. is taking to bolster the National Security Innovation Base and protect technology advantage, such as fostering public-private partnerships and expanding export controls. The strategy also lists 20 broad types of critical and emerging technologies that are identified as priorities across the government. The list overlaps with the White Houses Industries of the Future framework and includes additional items such as energy technologies and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear mitigation technologies. In a statement on the strategy, the Commerce Department highlighted its implementation of multilateral export controls on certain emerging technologies pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. The latest set, published this month, applies to hybrid additive manufacturing/computer numerically controlled tools; computational lithography software designed for the fabrication of extreme ultraviolet masks; technology for finishing wafers for five nanometer integrated circuit production; digital forensics tools that circumvent authentication or authorization controls on a computer and extract raw data; software for monitoring and analysis of communications and metadata acquired from a telecommunications service provider via a handover interface; and sub-orbital spacecraft.

On Oct. 15, the National Academies announced that its newly established National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable will be led by MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber, former National Intelligence Council Chair John Gannon, and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Richard Meserve. The roundtable will serve as a forum for representatives of the scientific community, federal science agencies, the intelligence community, and law enforcement officials to discuss concerns and activities related to securing research against exploitation by foreign governments. Congress mandated its creation through the Securing American Science and Technology Act, enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. The National Academies has long played a role in advising the government on research security matters, such as through the 1982 Corson report and the 2009 report Beyond Fortress America.

In its quarterly tranche of recommendations released last week, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence proposes a set of broad STEM workforce development initiatives as well as more targeted efforts in microelectronics, quantum computing, and biotechnology. Among its 66 recommendations are for Congress to provide the National Science Foundation with $8 billion over five years to fund 25,000 STEM undergraduate scholarships, 5,000 STEM graduate fellowships, and 500 postdoctoral positions. It also proposes creating a National Microelectronics Scholar Program modeled on the Department of Defenses SMART scholarship-for-service program. For quantum computing, the commission recommends providing researchers with access to quantum computers through a national cloud computing infrastructure and incentivizing domestic manufacturing of component materials through tax credits and loan guarantees. The commission also calls for the White House to create a Technology Competitiveness Council chaired by the vice president to focus government attention on technological innovation.

Among the 97 recommendations released last week by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is a proposal to reconstitute the long-defunct Office of Technology Assessment as a Congressional Technology and Innovation Lab. The committee explains the new entity would go beyond the mandate of the original OTA by proactively studying and testing new technologies rather than waiting for directives to study technologies. It adds that the lab would employ nonpartisan experts, visiting professors, and graduate students to provide fresh perspectives to members of Congress and their staff. In recent years, there has been a renewed push within Congress to revive OTA, though House appropriators backed away from the idea this year, instead favoring continued expansion of the Government Accountability Offices Science, Technology, Assessment, and Analytics team.

The United Kingdom-based scientific journal Nature officially endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Oct. 14.Having previously published a news article reviewing ways that President Trump has damaged science, the journal's editorsfurther evaluateTrumps record on issues connected to science and criticizes his divisive approach to politics more generally. TheyargueBiden would chart a starkly different course on matters such as the pandemic, climate change, environmental regulation, and immigration, and urge, Joe Biden must be given an opportunity to restore trust in truth, in evidence, in science and in other institutions of democracy, heal a divided nation, and begin the urgent task of rebuilding the United States reputation in the world. While some scientific publications have broken longstanding positions of neutrality to weigh in on this years election, Nature previously backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, when it referred to Trump as a demagogue not fit for high office, and in 2008 it issued a more measured endorsement of Barack Obama.

More than 1,000 current and former officers of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Epidemiology Intelligence Service fellowship programsigned a letter published this month that proteststhe ominous politicization and silencing of the agency. Representing more than a quarter of the people who have participated in the program throughout its nearly 70 year history, the letter adds to the mounting criticism of how the Trump administration has sought control over CDCs pandemic-response efforts. This past week, the Associated Press reported that in June the Trump administration assigned two appointees to the agencys headquarters tasked with keeping an eye on CDC Director Robert Redfield, according to a half-dozen CDC and administration officials. The assignment was made during the same period that the chief spokesperson and a science adviser at the agencys parent department sought to exert control over CDC messaging and scientific products. Both those individuals departed the department last month under a cloud of scandal.

During her nomination hearing last week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Amy Coney Barrett declined to explain her personal views on climate change when pressed by Democratic senators. In one exchange, vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked Barrett if she believes smoking causes cancer and whether coronavirus is infectious before then asking if she believes climate change is occurring. Barrett agreed that the coronavirus is infectious and smoking causes cancer, but declined to provide a direct response on climate change, stating, I will not express a view on a matter of public policy, especially one that is politically controversial because thats inconsistent with the judicial role. Harris observed that Barretts appointment to the court could have implications for climate policy, noting Justice Ginsberg voted in favor of the landmark 5-to-4 Massachusetts v. EPA case, which enabled the government to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

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The Week of October 19, 2020 - FYI: Science Policy News

Every Thing You Need to Know About Quantum Computers – Analytics Insight

Quantum computersare machines that use the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform calculations based on the probability of an objects state before it is measured. This can be extremely advantageous for certain tasks where they could vastlyoutperform even the best supercomputers.

Quantum computers canprocess massive and complex datasetsmore efficiently than classical computers. They use the fundamentals of quantum mechanics to speed up the process of solving complex calculations. Often, these computations incorporate a seemingly unlimited number of variables and the potential applications span industries from genomics to finance.

Classic computers, which include smartphones and laptops, carry out logical operations using the definite position of a physical state. They encode information in binary bits that can either be 0s or 1s. In quantum computing, operations instead use the quantum state of an object to produce the basic unit of memory called as a quantum bit or qubit. Qubits are made using physical systems, such as the spin of an electron or the orientation of a photon. These systems can be in many different arrangements all at once, a property known as quantum superposition. Qubits can also be inextricably linked together using a phenomenon called quantum entanglement. The result is that a series of qubits can represent different things simultaneously. These states are the undefined properties of an object before theyve been detected, such as the spin of an electron or the polarization of a photon.

Instead of having a clear position, unmeasured quantum states occur in a mixed superposition that can be entangled with those of other objects as their final outcomes will be mathematically related even. The complex mathematics behind these unsettled states of entangled spinning coins can be plugged into special algorithms to make short work of problems that would take a classical computer a long time to work out.

American physicist andNobel laureate Richard Feynmangave a note about quantum computers as early as 1959. He stated that when electronic components begin to reach microscopic scales, effects predicted by quantum mechanics occur, which might be exploited in the design of more powerful computers.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the theory of quantum computers advanced considerably beyond Feynmans early speculation. In 1985,David Deutschof the University of Oxford described the construction of quantum logic gates for a universal quantum computer.Peter Shor of AT&T devised an algorithmto factor numbers with a quantum computer that would require as few as six qubits in 1994. Later in 1998, Isaac Chuang of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Neil Gershenfeld of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Mark Kubince of the University of Californiacreated the first quantum computerwith 2 qubits, that could be loaded with data and output a solution.

Recently, Physicist David Wineland and his colleagues at the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that they havecreated a 4-qubit quantum computerby entangling four ionized beryllium atoms using an electromagnetic trap. Today, quantum computing ispoised to upend entire industriesstarting from telecommunications to cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, finance medicine and beyond.

There are three primary types of quantum computing. Each type differs by the amount of processing power (qubits) needed and the number of possible applications, as well as the time required to become commercially viable.

Quantum annealing is best for solving optimization problems. Researchers are trying to find the best and most efficient possible configuration among many possible combinations of variables.

Volkswagen recently conducted a quantum experiment to optimize traffic flows in the overcrowded city of Beijing, China. The experiment was run in partnership with Google and D-Wave Systems. Canadian company D-Wave developed quantum annealer. But, it is difficult to tell whether it actually has any real quantumness so far. The algorithm could successfully reduce traffic by choosing the ideal path for each vehicle.

Quantum simulations explore specific problems in quantum physics that are beyond the capacity of classical systems. Simulating complex quantum phenomena could be one of the most important applications of quantum computing. One area that is particularly promising for simulation is modeling the effect of a chemical stimulation on a large number of subatomic particles also known as quantum chemistry.

Universal quantum computers are the most powerful and most generally applicable, but also the hardest to build. Remarkably, a universal quantum computer would likely make use of over 100,000 qubits and some estimates put it at 1M qubits. But to the disappointment, the most qubits we can access now is just 128. The basic idea behind the universal quantum computer is that you could direct the machine at any massively complex computation and get a quick solution. This includes solving the aforementioned annealing equations, simulating quantum phenomena, and more.

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Every Thing You Need to Know About Quantum Computers - Analytics Insight

Quantum Computing Market : Advancements and Efficient Clinical Outcomes would Drive the Industry Growth with Top Key Player’s Analysis – The Daily…

Kenneth Research has published a detailed report on Quantum Computing Market which has been categorized by market size, growth indicators and encompasses detailed market analysis on macro trends and region-wise growth in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa region. The report also includes the challenges that are affecting the growth of the industry and offers strategic evaluation that is required to boost the growth of the market over the period of 2019-2026.

The report covers the forecast and analysis of the Quantum Computing Market on a global and regional level. The study provides historical data from 2015 to 2019 along with a forecast from 2019-2026 based on revenue (USD Million). In 2018, the worldwide GDP stood at USD 84,740.3 Billion as compared to the GDP of USD 80,144.5 Billion in 2017, marked a growth of 5.73% in 2018 over previous year according to the data quoted by International Monetary Fund. This is likely to impel the growth of Quantum Computing Marketover the period 2019-2026.

The Final Report will cover the impact analysis of COVID-19 on this industry.

Request To Download Sample of This Strategic Report:https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10307113The report provides a unique tool for evaluating the Market, highlighting opportunities, and supporting strategic and tactical decision-making. This report recognizes that in this rapidly-evolving and competitive environment, up-to-date marketing information is essential to monitor performance and make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, and focuses on markets capacities and on the changing structure of the Quantum Computing.

The quantum annealing category held the largest share under the technology segment in 2019. This is attributed to successful overcoming of physical challenges to develop this technology and further incorporated in bigger systems. The BFSI category held the largest share in the quantum computing market in 2019. This is owing to the fact that the industry is growing positively across the globe, and large banks are focusing on investing in this potential technology that can enable them to streamline their business processes, along with unbeatable levels of security

Automotive to lead quantum computing market for consulting solutions during forecast periodAmong the end-user industries considered, space and defense is the largest contributor to the overall quantum computing market, and it is expected to account for a maximum share of the market in 2019. The need for secure communications and data transfer, with the demand in faster data operations, is expected to boost the demand for quantum computing consulting solutions in this industry. The market for the automotive industry is expected to grow at the highest CAGR

Quantum computing can best be defined as the use of the attributes and principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations and solve problems. The global market for quantum computing is being driven largely by the desire to increase the capability of modeling and simulating complex data, improve the efficiency or optimization of systems or processes, and solve problems with more precision. A quantum system can process and analyze all data simultaneously and then return the best solution, along with thousands of close alternatives all within microseconds, according to a new report from Tractica.

2018 was a growth year for the market, as businesses from the BFSI sector showed tremendous interest in quantum computing and the trend is likely to continue in 2019 and beyond. Moreover, the public sector presents significant growth opportunity for the market. In the forthcoming years, the application opportunities for quantum computing is expected to expand further, which may lead to a higher commercial interest in the technology.

Market SegmentationThe report focuses on the following end-user sectors and applications for quantum computing:By Based on offering*Consulting solutions*Systems

By End-user sectors*Government.*Academic.*Healthcare.*Military.*Geology/energy.*Information technology.*Transport/logistics.*Finance/economics.*Meteorology.*Chemicals.

By Applications*Basic research.*Quantum simulation.*Optimization problems.*Sampling.

By Regional AnanlysisNorth America*U.S.*Canada

Europe*Germany*UK*France*Italy*Spain*Belgium*Russia*Netherlands*Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific*China*India*Japan*Korea*Singapore*Malaysia*Indonesia*Thailand*Philippines*Rest of Asia-Pacific

Latin America*Brazil*Mexico*Argentina*Rest of LATAM

Middle East & Africa*UAE*Saudi Arabia*South Africa*Rest of MEA

The quantum computing market is highly competitive with high strategic stakes and product differentiation. Some of the key market players include International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Telstra Corporation Limited, IonQ Inc., Silicon Quantum Computing, Huawei Investment & Holding Co. Ltd., Alphabet Inc., Rigetti & Co Inc., Microsoft Corporation, D-Wave Systems Inc., Zapata Computing Inc., and Intel Corporation.

Click Here to Download Sample Report >>https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10307113

Competitive Analysis:The Quantum Computing Market report examines competitive scenario by analyzing key players in the market. The company profiling of leading market players is included in this report with Porters five forces analysis and Value Chain analysis. Further, the strategies exercised by the companies for expansion of business through mergers, acquisitions, and other business development measures are discussed in the report. The financial parameters which are assessed include the sales, profits and the overall revenue generated by the key players of Market.

About Kenneth Research:

Kenneth Research is a reselling agency which focuses on multi-client market research database. The primary goal of the agency is to help industry professionals including various individuals and organizations gain an extra edge of competitiveness and help them identify the market trends and scope. The quality reports provided by the agency aims to make decision making easier for industry professionals and take firm decisions which helps them to form strategies after complete assessment of the market. Some of the industries under focus include healthcare & pharmaceuticals, ICT & Telecom, automotive and transportation, energy and power, chemicals, FMCG, food and beverages, aerospace and defense and others. Kenneth Research also focuses on strategic business consultancy services and offers a single platform for the best industry market research reports.

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Quantum Computing Market : Advancements and Efficient Clinical Outcomes would Drive the Industry Growth with Top Key Player's Analysis - The Daily...

What is quantum computing?

Quantum computing is an area of study focused on the development of computer based technologies centered around the principles ofquantum theory. Quantum theory explains the nature and behavior of energy and matter on thequantum(atomic and subatomic) level. Quantum computing uses a combination ofbitsto perform specific computational tasks. All at a much higher efficiency than their classical counterparts. Development ofquantum computersmark a leap forward in computing capability, with massive performance gains for specific use cases. For example quantum computing excels at like simulations.

The quantum computer gains much of its processing power through the ability for bits to be in multiple states at one time. They can perform tasks using a combination of 1s, 0s and both a 1 and 0 simultaneously. Current research centers in quantum computing include MIT, IBM, Oxford University, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In addition, developers have begun gaining access toquantum computers through cloud services.

Quantum computing began with finding its essential elements. In 1981, Paul Benioff at Argonne National Labs came up with the idea of a computer that operated with quantum mechanical principles. It is generally accepted that David Deutsch of Oxford University provided the critical idea behind quantum computing research. In 1984, he began to wonder about the possibility of designing a computer that was based exclusively on quantum rules, publishing a breakthrough paper a few months later.

Quantum Theory

Quantum theory's development began in 1900 with a presentation by Max Planck. The presentation was to the German Physical Society, in which Planck introduced the idea that energy and matter exists in individual units. Further developments by a number of scientists over the following thirty years led to the modern understanding of quantum theory.

Quantum Theory

Quantum theory's development began in 1900 with a presentation by Max Planck. The presentation was to the German Physical Society, in which Planck introduced the idea that energy and matter exists in individual units. Further developments by a number of scientists over the following thirty years led to the modern understanding of quantum theory.

The Essential Elements of Quantum Theory:

Further Developments of Quantum Theory

Niels Bohr proposed the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. This theory asserts that a particle is whatever it is measured to be, but that it cannot be assumed to have specific properties, or even to exist, until it is measured. This relates to a principle called superposition. Superposition claims when we do not know what the state of a given object is, it is actually in all possible states simultaneously -- as long as we don't look to check.

To illustrate this theory, we can use the famous analogy of Schrodinger's Cat. First, we have a living cat and place it in a lead box. At this stage, there is no question that the cat is alive. Then throw in a vial of cyanide and seal the box. We do not know if the cat is alive or if it has broken the cyanide capsule and died. Since we do not know, the cat is both alive and dead, according to quantum law -- in a superposition of states. It is only when we break open the box and see what condition the cat is in that the superposition is lost, and the cat must be either alive or dead.

The principle that, in some way, one particle can exist in numerous states opens up profound implications for computing.

A Comparison of Classical and Quantum Computing

Classical computing relies on principles expressed by Boolean algebra; usually Operating with a 3 or 7-modelogic gateprinciple. Data must be processed in an exclusive binary state at any point in time; either 0 (off / false) or 1 (on / true). These values are binary digits, or bits. The millions of transistors and capacitors at the heart of computers can only be in one state at any point. In addition, there is still a limit as to how quickly these devices can be made to switch states. As we progress to smaller and faster circuits, we begin to reach the physical limits of materials and the threshold for classical laws of physics to apply.

The quantum computer operates with a two-mode logic gate:XORand a mode called QO1 (the ability to change 0 into a superposition of 0 and 1). In a quantum computer, a number of elemental particles such as electrons or photons can be used. Each particle is given a charge, or polarization, acting as a representation of 0 and/or 1. Each particle is called a quantum bit, or qubit. The nature and behavior of these particles form the basis of quantum computing and quantum supremacy. The two most relevant aspects of quantum physics are the principles of superposition andentanglement.

Superposition

Think of a qubit as an electron in a magnetic field. The electron's spin may be either in alignment with the field, which is known as aspin-upstate, or opposite to the field, which is known as aspin-downstate. Changing the electron's spin from one state to another is achieved by using a pulse of energy, such as from alaser. If only half a unit of laser energy is used, and the particle is isolated the particle from all external influences, the particle then enters a superposition of states. Behaving as if it were in both states simultaneously.

Each qubit utilized could take a superposition of both 0 and 1. Meaning, the number of computations a quantum computer could take is 2^n, where n is the number of qubits used. A quantum computer comprised of 500 qubits would have a potential to do 2^500 calculations in a single step. For reference, 2^500 is infinitely more atoms than there are in the known universe. These particles all interact with each other via quantum entanglement.

In comparison to classical, quantum computing counts as trueparallel processing. Classical computers today still only truly do one thing at a time. In classical computing, there are just two or more processors to constitute parallel processing.EntanglementParticles (like qubits) that have interacted at some point retain a type can be entangled with each other in pairs, in a process known ascorrelation. Knowing the spin state of one entangled particle - up or down -- gives away the spin of the other in the opposite direction. In addition, due to the superposition, the measured particle has no single spin direction before being measured. The spin state of the particle being measured is determined at the time of measurement and communicated to the correlated particle, which simultaneously assumes the opposite spin direction. The reason behind why is not yet explained.

Quantum entanglement allows qubits that are separated by large distances to interact with each other instantaneously (not limited to the speed of light). No matter how great the distance between the correlated particles, they will remain entangled as long as they are isolated.

Taken together, quantum superposition and entanglement create an enormously enhanced computing power. Where a 2-bit register in an ordinary computer can store only one of four binary configurations (00, 01, 10, or 11) at any given time, a 2-qubit register in a quantum computer can store all four numbers simultaneously. This is because each qubit represents two values. If more qubits are added, the increased capacity is expanded exponentially.

Quantum Programming

Quantum computing offers an ability to write programs in a completely new way. For example, a quantum computer could incorporate a programming sequence that would be along the lines of "take all the superpositions of all the prior computations." This would permit extremely fast ways of solving certain mathematical problems, such as factorization of large numbers.

The first quantum computing program appeared in 1994 by Peter Shor, who developed a quantum algorithm that could efficiently factorize large numbers.

The Problems - And Some Solutions

The benefits of quantum computing are promising, but there are huge obstacles to overcome still. Some problems with quantum computing are:

There are many problems to overcome, such as how to handle security and quantum cryptography. Long time quantum information storage has been a problem in the past too. However, breakthroughs in the last 15 years and in the recent past have made some form of quantum computing practical. There is still much debate as to whether this is less than a decade away or a hundred years into the future. However, the potential that this technology offers is attracting tremendous interest from both the government and the private sector. Military applications include the ability to break encryptions keys via brute force searches, while civilian applications range from DNA modeling to complex material science analysis.

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What is quantum computing?

AI, quantum computing and other technologies poised to transform healthcare – Healthcare Finance News

Photo: Al David Sacks/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges in healthcare, but challenges can sometimes breed innovation. Technological innovation in particular is poised to change the way care is delivered, driving efficiency in the process. Efficiency will be key as hospitals and health systems look to recover from the initial, devastating wave of the pandemic.

Ryan Hodgin, chief technology officer for IBM Global Healthcare, and Kate Huey, partner at IBM Healthcare, will speak about some of these technological innovations in their digital HIMSS21 session, "Innovation Driven Resiliency: Redefining What's Possible."

The technology in question can encompass telehealth, artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, chatbots, apps and other elements that have become mainstays of healthcare during the course of the pandemic.

In a way, science fiction is becoming science fact: Technologies that were once in the experimental phase are now coming to life and driving innovation, particularly quantum computing. The power of quantum computing has the potential to transform healthcare just by sheer force of its impressive computational power.

One of the big factors accelerating technological innovation is the healthcare workforce, which has been placed under enormous stress over the past 18 months, with many doctors and clinicians reporting burnout or feelings of being overwhelmed. These technologies promise to reduce the burden being felt by providers.

Importantly, they also promise to more actively engage healthcare consumers, who increasingly expect healthcare to be as user-friendly and experience driven as their favorite apps or online shopping portals.

Hodgin and Huey will speak more on the topic when their session debuts on Tuesday, August 10, from 11:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

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AI, quantum computing and other technologies poised to transform healthcare - Healthcare Finance News

Google AI Blog: Quantum Supremacy Using a Programmable …

This result is the first experimental challenge against the extended Church-Turing thesis, which states that classical computers can efficiently implement any reasonable model of computation. With the first quantum computation that cannot reasonably be emulated on a classical computer, we have opened up a new realm of computing to be explored.

The Sycamore ProcessorThe quantum supremacy experiment was run on a fully programmable 54-qubit processor named Sycamore. Its comprised of a two-dimensional grid where each qubit is connected to four other qubits. As a consequence, the chip has enough connectivity that the qubit states quickly interact throughout the entire processor, making the overall state impossible to emulate efficiently with a classical computer.

The success of the quantum supremacy experiment was due to our improved two-qubit gates with enhanced parallelism that reliably achieve record performance, even when operating many gates simultaneously. We achieved this performance using a new type of control knob that is able to turn off interactions between neighboring qubits. This greatly reduces the errors in such a multi-connected qubit system. We made further performance gains by optimizing the chip design to lower crosstalk, and by developing new control calibrations that avoid qubit defects.

We designed the circuit in a two-dimensional square grid, with each qubit connected to four other qubits. This architecture is also forward compatible for the implementation of quantum error-correction. We see our 54-qubit Sycamore processor as the first in a series of ever more powerful quantum processors.

ApplicationsThe Sycamore quantum computer is fully programmable and can run general-purpose quantum algorithms. Since achieving quantum supremacy results last spring, our team has already been working on near-term applications, including quantum physics simulation and quantum chemistry, as well as new applications in generative machine learning, among other areas.

We also now have the first widely useful quantum algorithm for computer science applications: certifiable quantum randomness. Randomness is an important resource in computer science, and quantum randomness is the gold standard, especially if the numbers can be self-checked (certified) to come from a quantum computer. Testing of this algorithm is ongoing, and in the coming months we plan to implement it in a prototype that can provide certifiable random numbers.

Whats Next?Our team has two main objectives going forward, both towards finding valuable applications in quantum computing. First, in the future we will make our supremacy-class processors available to collaborators and academic researchers, as well as companies that are interested in developing algorithms and searching for applications for todays NISQ processors. Creative researchers are the most important resource for innovation now that we have a new computational resource, we hope more researchers will enter the field motivated by trying to invent something useful.

Second, were investing in our team and technology to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer as quickly as possible. Such a device promises a number of valuable applications. For example, we can envision quantum computing helping to design new materials lightweight batteries for cars and airplanes, new catalysts that can produce fertilizer more efficiently (a process that today produces over 2% of the worlds carbon emissions), and more effective medicines. Achieving the necessary computational capabilities will still require years of hard engineering and scientific work. But we see a path clearly now, and were eager to move ahead.

AcknowledgementsWed like to thank our collaborators and contributors University of California Santa Barbara, NASA Ames Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Forschungszentrum Jlich, and many others who helped along the way.

Today we published the results of this quantum supremacy experiment in the Nature article, Quantum Supremacy Using a Programmable Superconducting Processor. We developed a new 54-qubit processor, named Sycamore, that is comprised of fast, high-fidelity quantum logic gates, in order to perform the benchmark testing. Our machine performed the target computation in 200 seconds, and from measurements in our experiment we determined that it would take the worlds fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to produce a similar output.

Each run of a random quantum circuit on a quantum computer produces a bitstring, for example 0000101. Owing to quantum interference, some bitstrings are much more likely to occur than others when we repeat the experiment many times. However, finding the most likely bitstrings for a random quantum circuit on a classical computer becomes exponentially more difficult as the number of qubits (width) and number of gate cycles (depth) grow.

The Sycamore ProcessorThe quantum supremacy experiment was run on a fully programmable 54-qubit processor named Sycamore. Its comprised of a two-dimensional grid where each qubit is connected to four other qubits. As a consequence, the chip has enough connectivity that the qubit states quickly interact throughout the entire processor, making the overall state impossible to emulate efficiently with a classical computer.

The success of the quantum supremacy experiment was due to our improved two-qubit gates with enhanced parallelism that reliably achieve record performance, even when operating many gates simultaneously. We achieved this performance using a new type of control knob that is able to turn off interactions between neighboring qubits. This greatly reduces the errors in such a multi-connected qubit system. We made further performance gains by optimizing the chip design to lower crosstalk, and by developing new control calibrations that avoid qubit defects.

We designed the circuit in a two-dimensional square grid, with each qubit connected to four other qubits. This architecture is also forward compatible for the implementation of quantum error-correction. We see our 54-qubit Sycamore processor as the first in a series of ever more powerful quantum processors.

ApplicationsThe Sycamore quantum computer is fully programmable and can run general-purpose quantum algorithms. Since achieving quantum supremacy results last spring, our team has already been working on near-term applications, including quantum physics simulation and quantum chemistry, as well as new applications in generative machine learning, among other areas.

We also now have the first widely useful quantum algorithm for computer science applications: certifiable quantum randomness. Randomness is an important resource in computer science, and quantum randomness is the gold standard, especially if the numbers can be self-checked (certified) to come from a quantum computer. Testing of this algorithm is ongoing, and in the coming months we plan to implement it in a prototype that can provide certifiable random numbers.

Whats Next?Our team has two main objectives going forward, both towards finding valuable applications in quantum computing. First, in the future we will make our supremacy-class processors available to collaborators and academic researchers, as well as companies that are interested in developing algorithms and searching for applications for todays NISQ processors. Creative researchers are the most important resource for innovation now that we have a new computational resource, we hope more researchers will enter the field motivated by trying to invent something useful.

Second, were investing in our team and technology to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer as quickly as possible. Such a device promises a number of valuable applications. For example, we can envision quantum computing helping to design new materials lightweight batteries for cars and airplanes, new catalysts that can produce fertilizer more efficiently (a process that today produces over 2% of the worlds carbon emissions), and more effective medicines. Achieving the necessary computational capabilities will still require years of hard engineering and scientific work. But we see a path clearly now, and were eager to move ahead.

AcknowledgementsWed like to thank our collaborators and contributors University of California Santa Barbara, NASA Ames Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Forschungszentrum Jlich, and many others who helped along the way.

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Google AI Blog: Quantum Supremacy Using a Programmable ...

The Worldwide Quantum Computing Industry will Exceed $7.1 Billion by 2026 – Yahoo Finance

Dublin, Jan. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Quantum Computing Market by Technology, Infrastructure, Services, and Industry Verticals 2021 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report assesses the technology, companies/organizations, R&D efforts, and potential solutions facilitated by quantum computing. The report provides global and regional forecasts as well as the outlook for quantum computing impact on infrastructure including hardware, software, applications, and services from 2021 to 2026. This includes the quantum computing market across major industry verticals.

While classical (non-quantum) computers make the modern digital world possible, there are many tasks that cannot be solved using conventional computational methods. This is because of limitations in processing power. For example, fourth-generation computers cannot perform multiple computations at one time with one processor. Physical phenomena at the nanoscale indicate that a quantum computer is capable of computational feats that are orders of magnitude greater than conventional methods.

This is due to the use of something referred to as a quantum bit (qubit), which may exist as a zero or one (as in classical computing) or may exist in two-states simultaneously (0 and 1 at the same time) due to the superposition principle of quantum physics. This enables greater processing power than the normal binary (zero only or one only) representation of data.

Whereas parallel computing is achieved in classical computers via linking processors together, quantum computers may conduct multiple computations with a single processor. This is referred to as quantum parallelism and is a major difference between hyper-fast quantum computers and speed-limited classical computers.

Quantum computing is anticipated to support many new and enhanced capabilities including:

Ultra-secure Data and Communications: Data is encrypted and also follow multiple paths through a phenomenon known as quantum teleportation

Super-dense Data and Communications: Significantly denser encoding will allow substantially more information to be sent from point A to point B

Target Audience:

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ICT Service Providers

ICT Infrastructure Providers

Security Solutions Providers

Data and Computing Companies

Governments and NGO R&D Organizations

Select Report Findings:

The global market for QC hardware will exceed $7.1 billion by 2026

Leading application areas are simulation, optimization, and sampling

Managed services will reach $206 million by 2026 with CAGR of 44.2%

Key professional services will be deployment, maintenance, and consulting

QC based on superconducting (cooling) loops tech will reach $3.3B by 2026

Fastest growing industry verticals will be government, energy, and transportation

Report Benefits:

Market forecasts globally, regionally, and by opportunity areas for 2021 - 2026

Understand how quantum computing will accelerate growth of artificial intelligence

Identify opportunities to leverage quantum computing in different industry verticals

Understand challenges and limitations to deploying and operating quantum computing

Identify contribution of leading vendors, universities, and government agencies in R&D

Key Topics Covered:

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Introduction

3.0 Technology and Market Analysis3.1 Quantum Computing State of the Industry3.2 Quantum Computing Technology Stack3.3 Quantum Computing and Artificial Intelligence3.4 Quantum Neurons3.5 Quantum Computing and Big Data3.6 Linear Optical Quantum Computing3.7 Quantum Computing Business Model3.8 Quantum Software Platform3.9 Application Areas3.10 Emerging Revenue Sectors3.11 Quantum Computing Investment Analysis3.12 Quantum Computing Initiatives by Country3.12.1 USA3.12.2 Canada3.12.3 Mexico3.12.4 Brazil3.12.5 UK3.12.6 France3.12.7 Russia3.12.8 Germany3.12.9 Netherlands3.12.10 Denmark3.12.11 Sweden3.12.12 Saudi Arabia3.12.13 UAE3.12.14 Qatar3.12.15 Kuwait3.12.16 Israel3.12.17 Australia3.12.18 China3.12.19 Japan3.12.20 India3.12.21 Singapore

4.0 Quantum Computing Drivers and Challenges4.1 Quantum Computing Market Dynamics4.2 Quantum Computing Market Drivers4.2.1 Growing Adoption in Aerospace and Defense Sectors4.2.2 Growing investment of Governments4.2.3 Emergence of Advance Applications4.3 Quantum Computing Market Challenges

5.0 Quantum Computing Use Cases5.1 Quantum Computing in Pharmaceuticals5.2 Applying Quantum Technology to Financial Problems5.3 Accelerate Autonomous Vehicles with Quantum AI5.4 Car Manufacturers using Quantum Computing5.5 Accelerating Advanced Computing for NASA Missions

6.0 Quantum Computing Value Chain Analysis6.1 Quantum Computing Value Chain Structure6.2 Quantum Computing Competitive Analysis6.2.1 Leading Vendor Efforts6.2.2 Start-up Companies6.2.3 Government Initiatives6.2.4 University Initiatives6.2.5 Venture Capital Investments6.3 Large Scale Computing Systems

7.0 Company Analysis7.1 D-Wave Systems Inc.7.1.1 Company Overview:7.1.2 Product Portfolio7.1.3 Recent Development7.2 Google Inc.7.2.1 Company Overview:7.2.2 Product Portfolio7.2.3 Recent Development7.3 Microsoft Corporation7.3.1 Company Overview:7.3.2 Product Portfolio7.3.3 Recent Development7.4 IBM Corporation7.4.1 Company Overview:7.4.2 Product Portfolio7.4.3 Recent Development7.5 Intel Corporation7.5.1 Company Overview7.5.2 Product Portfolio7.5.3 Recent Development7.6 Nokia Corporation7.6.1 Company Overview7.6.2 Product Portfolio7.6.3 Recent Developments7.7 Toshiba Corporation7.7.1 Company Overview7.7.2 Product Portfolio7.7.3 Recent Development7.8 Raytheon Company7.8.1 Company Overview7.8.2 Product Portfolio7.8.3 Recent Development7.9 Other Companies7.9.1 1QB Information Technologies Inc.7.9.1.1 Company Overview7.9.1.2 Recent Development7.9.2 Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd.7.9.2.1 Company Overview7.9.2.2 Recent Development7.9.3 QC Ware Corp.7.9.3.1 Company Overview7.9.3.2 Recent Development7.9.4 MagiQ Technologies Inc.7.9.4.1 Company Overview7.9.5 Rigetti Computing7.9.5.1 Company Overview7.9.5.2 Recent Development7.9.6 Anyon Systems Inc.7.9.6.1 Company Overview7.9.7 Quantum Circuits Inc.7.9.7.1 Company Overview7.9.7.2 Recent Development7.9.8 Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)7.9.8.1 Company Overview7.9.8.2 Recent Development7.9.9 Fujitsu Ltd.7.9.9.1 Company Overview7.9.9.2 Recent Development7.9.10 NEC Corporation7.9.10.1 Company Overview7.9.10.2 Recent Development7.9.11 SK Telecom7.9.11.1 Company Overview7.9.11.2 Recent Development7.9.12 Lockheed Martin Corporation7.9.12.1 Company Overview7.9.13 NTT Docomo Inc.7.9.13.1 Company Overview7.9.13.2 Recent Development7.9.14 Alibaba Group Holding Limited7.9.14.1 Company Overview7.9.14.2 Recent Development7.9.15 Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.7.9.15.1 Company Overview7.9.16 Airbus Group7.9.16.1 Company Overview7.9.16.2 Recent Development7.9.17 Amgen Inc.7.9.17.1 Company Overview7.9.17.2 Recent Development7.9.18 Biogen Inc.7.9.18.1 Company Overview7.9.18.2 Recent Development7.9.19 BT Group7.9.19.1 Company Overview7.9.19.2 Recent Development7.9.20 Mitsubishi Electric Corp.7.9.20.1 Company Overview7.9.21 Volkswagen AG7.9.21.1 Company Overview7.9.21.2 Recent Development7.9.22 KPN7.9.22.1 Recent Development7.10 Ecosystem Contributors7.10.1 Agilent Technologies7.10.2 Artiste-qb.net7.10.3 Avago Technologies7.10.4 Ciena Corporation7.10.5 Eagle Power Technologies Inc7.10.6 Emcore Corporation7.10.7 Enablence Technologies7.10.8 Entanglement Partners7.10.9 Fathom Computing7.10.10 Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH7.10.11 Atom Computing7.10.12 Black Brane Systems7.10.13 Delft Circuits7.10.14 EeroQ7.10.15 Everettian Technologies7.10.16 EvolutionQ7.10.17 H-Bar Consultants7.10.18 Horizon Quantum Computing7.10.19 ID Quantique (IDQ)7.10.20 InfiniQuant7.10.21 IonQ7.10.22 ISARA7.10.23 KETS Quantum Security7.10.24 Magiq7.10.25 MDR Corporation7.10.26 Nordic Quantum Computing Group (NQCG)7.10.27 Oxford Quantum Circuits7.10.28 Post-Quantum (PQ Solutions)7.10.29 ProteinQure7.10.30 PsiQuantum7.10.31 Q&I7.10.32 Qasky7.10.33 QbitLogic7.10.34 Q-Ctrl7.10.35 Qilimanjaro Quantum Hub7.10.36 Qindom7.10.37 Qnami7.10.38 QSpice Labs7.10.39 Qu & Co7.10.40 Quandela7.10.41 Quantika7.10.42 Quantum Benchmark Inc.7.10.43 Quantum Circuits Inc. (QCI)7.10.44 Quantum Factory GmbH7.10.45 QuantumCTek7.10.46 Quantum Motion Technologies7.10.47 QuantumX7.10.48 Qubitekk7.10.49 Qubitera LLC7.10.50 Quintessence Labs7.10.51 Qulab7.10.52 Qunnect7.10.53 QuNu Labs7.10.54 River Lane Research (RLR)7.10.55 SeeQC7.10.56 Silicon Quantum Computing7.10.57 Sparrow Quantum7.10.58 Strangeworks7.10.59 Tokyo Quantum Computing (TQC)7.10.60 TundraSystems Global Ltd.7.10.61 Turing7.10.62 Xanadu7.10.63 Zapata Computing7.10.64 Accenture7.10.65 Atos Quantum7.10.66 Baidu7.10.67 Northrop Grumman7.10.68 Quantum Computing Inc.7.10.69 Keysight Technologies7.10.70 Nano-Meta Technologies7.10.71 Optalysys Ltd.

8.0 Quantum Computing Market Analysis and Forecasts 2021 - 20268.1.1 Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure8.1.1.1 Quantum Computing Market by Hardware Type8.1.1.2 Quantum Computing Market by Application Software Type8.1.1.3 Quantum Computing Market by Service Type8.1.1.3.1 Quantum Computing Market by Professional Service Type8.1.2 Quantum Computing Market by Technology Segment8.1.3 Quantum Computing Market by Industry Vertical8.1.4 Quantum Computing Market by Region8.1.4.1 North America Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure, Technology, Industry Vertical, and Country8.1.4.2 European Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure, Technology, and Industry Vertical8.1.4.3 Asia-Pacific Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure, Technology, and Industry Vertical8.1.4.4 Middle East & Africa Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure, Technology, and Industry Vertical8.1.4.5 Latin America Quantum Computing Market by Infrastructure, Technology, and Industry Vertical

9.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

10.0 Appendix: Quantum Computing and Classical HPC10.1 Next Generation Computing10.2 Quantum Computing vs. Classical High-Performance Computing10.3 Artificial Intelligence in High Performance Computing10.4 Quantum Technology Market in Exascale Computing

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/omefq7

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The Worldwide Quantum Computing Industry will Exceed $7.1 Billion by 2026 - Yahoo Finance

The Quantum Comprehension Gap and the Emergence of Quantum Ethics – insideHPC

Though years from potential fruition, quantum computing and its control has emerged as an issue among technology ethicists. But if a YouTube video released last week voicing the concerns of six quantum experts is any indication, the level of discourse is at an early and amorphous stage, with only vague notions of solutions.

This is not to belittle the good work of Matt Swayne, an editor at Quantum Daily who co-produced the video with publisher Evan Kubes. To be fair, the video is intended for a general, not technical, audience, and Swayne and Kubes raise critical issues that individual technologists, their companies, their countries and governing bodies will need to come to grips with. Its just to say that quantum ethics, like the technology itself, is at an early stage, and that the thinking, talking and actions taken on quantum ethics will have to progress far and fast if it is to be effective.

The thought of what quantum may someday be able to do, that it could dust todays HPC and supercomputing, is staggering. Altering the human genome, designing super (and super-expensive) drugs, developing new military weapons, along with espionage and law enforcement techniques all of these and more have major implications not only for the technology but for the existing gaps between rich and poor people and countries, between normally intelligent and the abnormally intelligent technological elite, gaps that quantum could widen.

As Faye Wattleton, co-founder , EeroQ Quantum Hardware, said in the video, I think its in a moment for us to pause, and cause us to take a step back to say, Wait a minute, if we can do in a few minutes what it would take 10,000 years to do with our current technology, well, that really requires some careful consideration.

If we think about what it can do for good, of course, (many) industries farmer, molecular simulation, creating new materials thats wonderful, said Dr. Ilana Wisby, CEO, Oxford Quantum Circuits. But of course, it could also be used to create new materials for purposes that arent so wonderful. We start to see and understand why governments, for example, are interested from even a material science perspective. And, of course, the infamous one is Shors Algorithm and the understanding that quantum computing could one day, likely, break encryption What we have to understand and address now is: Is it worth the risk? Just because we can do something doesnt mean we should.

The point regarding the gap in quantum comprehension is not raised in the video, but there already is a major divide between those doing quantum R&D over against the vast majority of technologists, never mind the public at large, for whom quantum will remain an utter blank, a non-starter, beginning with the head splitting concept that a qubit can be a 0 and a 1 at the same time (though, we admit, the more often we hear it repeated the less intimidating it becomes, even if its no more comprehendible). As Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said, If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you dont understand quantum mechanics. (It may have been Feynman who also said, You dont understand quantum mechanics, you just go with it.)

Dr. Ilana Wisby, CEO, Oxford Quantum Circuits

The comprehension gap only adds to the complexities of quantum ethics when we consider that those who will apply the ethics in the form of legislation i.e., politicians wont understand the technology at all. Collision of the tech-political worlds was put on display last summer during Congressional hearings on Big Tech in which members of Congress asked elementary and transparently uninformed questions that the Big Tech company executives struggled mightily to answer without condescension and that was about social media, a technology every politician uses (one media wag said the hearings at times seemed more like an extended Facebook help session).

Theres a truism that when it comes to business, politicians first do too little, then too much. This could pose a problem for FAANG and other companies pursuing quantum that are accustomed to asking for forgiveness, not permission, from local, state and federal governments and regulators.

Perhaps companies in the quantum sector should look for guidance from Germanys approach to governance of autonomous vehicles. Led by the countrys transportation minister, an ethics commission was assembled and deliberated on the matter with religious, intellectual and other societal leaders, along with technologists and car makers. The commissions 2017 report recommended that all AVs let humans take control, that if an accident occurs in which the car is in control then the automaker is liable, that AVs cant be programmed demographically (such as deciding that an elderly person should die before a baby), and other matters. If these ethical constraints make it harder to produce AVs then so be it ethics before technology seemed to be the commissions overriding priority.**

Ilyas Khan, CEO, Cambridge Quantum Computing

In that vein, one the experts who participated in the video, Ilyas Khan, CEO, Cambridge Quantum Computing, urged the quantum community not repeat the ethical lapses of previous decades.

My generation was asleep of the wheel in the 90s, Khan said. The pursuit of various different returns overcame our sensibility. If you think 100 years ago, 150 years ago, when mass media first made its appearance in the form of newspapers that millions of people would read, we put controls in place. When railways started to emerge, we put controls in place. In the mid-90s, the combination of the internet revolution and what happened with mobile telephony, we gave up, there were no controls. Now, societies get very excited about things like (the financial crisis of) 2008, and 2009 and the so-called bankers that were at fault, but this is a far, far bigger issue that were facing today because of being asleep of the wheel in the 90s, and the 80s.

Considering quantums potential powers, and the natural concern of the bottom 99 percent who can only stand in uncomprehending awe before that power, an ethics-first approach may be the right way to guide quantum through its development if it is to be accepted, not feared, by society at large.

As one of the experts in the video, Nick Farina, founder, EeroQ Quantum Hardware, has said, The early stage of quantum computing is not a reason to delay ethical considerations, its actually a great opportunity to create ethical frameworks in advance of large scale impact.

** Source: Steve Conway, senior adviser, HPC market dynamics, at industry analyst firm Hyperion Research.

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The Quantum Comprehension Gap and the Emergence of Quantum Ethics - insideHPC