Computing with Quantum Cats: From Colossus to Qubits
Language: English
Pages: 295
ISBN: 1616149213
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A mind-blowing glimpse into the near future, where quantum computing will have world-transforming effects.
The quantum computer is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Pioneering physicists are on the brink of unlocking a new quantum universe which provides a better representation of reality than our everyday experiences and common sense ever could. The birth of quantum computers - which, like Schrödinger's famous "dead and alive" cat, rely on entities like electrons, photons, or atoms existing in two states at the same time - is set to turn the computing world on its head.
In his fascinating study of this cutting-edge technology, John Gribbin updates his previous views on the nature of quantum reality, arguing for a universe of many parallel worlds where "everything is real." Looking back to Alan Turing's work on the Enigma machine and the first electronic computer, Gribbin explains how quantum theory developed to make quantum computers work in practice as well as in principle. He takes us beyond the arena of theoretical physics to explore their practical applications - from machines which learn through "intuition" and trial and error to unhackable laptops and smartphones. And he investigates the potential for this extraordinary science to create a world where communication occurs faster than light and teleportation is possible.
This is an exciting insider's look at the new frontier of computer science and its revolutionary implications.
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of all these puzzles was to say that there is no such thing as the collapse of the wave function. As early as 1927, at a major scientific meeting known as a Solvay Congress, he said: “The real system is a composite of the classical system in all its possible states.” At the time, this remark was largely ignored, and the Copenhagen Interpretation, which worked For All Practical Purposes, even if it doesn't make sense, held sway for the next half-century. I will explain the importance of his
(true) story that has become part of Oxford folklore tells how a Japanese film crew who came to interview Deutsch were so concerned by the mess that they offered to tidy it up. Deutsch explained that what looked like a mess to them was order to him, and he knew what was in each pile of papers; but he reluctantly agreed to their request, on condition that they promised to put everything back afterwards as they had found it. So they photographed everything, made notes like records of an
scale of nanometers (one nm is a billionth of a meter). The construction process involves depositing layers of semiconducting material, one on top of the other, in so-called semiconductor lithography, and interesting things happen where layers of different material meet. The basic idea is to create a three-dimensional structure, like a submicroscopic bubble, in which a single electron can be “corralled”—confined in a small volume with a known energy level—and can be moved up and down energy
Turing finishing a race: National Physical Laboratory © Crown copyright/Science Photo Library Hut 3, Bletchley Park: © Edifice/Corbis; Colossus, 1943: SSPL via Getty Images; codebreakers, Bletchley Park, c. 1942: SSPL via Getty Images ENIAC: Associated Press; advertisement for the Bendix G-15 computer: courtesy of the Computer History Museum; J. Robert Oppenheimer and John von Neumann: Emilio Segre Visual Archives/American Institute of Physics/Science Photo Library Fred Hoyle: BBC Photo
68 Holt, Richard, 165, 166, 167–8 Home Guard, 31–2 Horne, Michael, 164–6 Houghton, Betty (née Bowden), 41–2, 44 House Un-American Activities Committee, 148 Hoyle, Fred, 87 Hubble Space Telescope, 179 Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, 179 IBM (International Business Machines): Almaden Research Center, 223–5; computer development, 69; Difference Tabulator, 69; ENIAC, 75; Feynman's work, 103–4; Manhattan Project, 64–5; origins, 67; Physics of Information group, 227, 241; punched cards, 69, 75, 78;
