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This document discusses quantum computing and its potential advantages over classical computing. It notes that quantum algorithms like Shor's algorithm could exponentially outperform classical algorithms for complex problems like integer factorization. However, the author argues against the claim in the source article that quantum computing can be understood without a deep knowledge of quantum mechanics. The author believes a thorough understanding of quantum physics concepts like states, observables, and measurement is needed to truly understand quantum computing theory. The document also emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of quantum computing research, requiring ideas and knowledge from fields like physics, mathematics, computer science, and chemistry.

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Iheb Belgacem
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100 views2 pages

Essay 2

This document discusses quantum computing and its potential advantages over classical computing. It notes that quantum algorithms like Shor's algorithm could exponentially outperform classical algorithms for complex problems like integer factorization. However, the author argues against the claim in the source article that quantum computing can be understood without a deep knowledge of quantum mechanics. The author believes a thorough understanding of quantum physics concepts like states, observables, and measurement is needed to truly understand quantum computing theory. The document also emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of quantum computing research, requiring ideas and knowledge from fields like physics, mathematics, computer science, and chemistry.

Uploaded by

Iheb Belgacem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Quantum Computing has become in the recent years a very popular research area.

It has been
proven that quantum computer would be able to exponentially outperform classical computer in
solving many complex problems , Shor’s Algorithm (1994), which is able to factorize in a reasonable
amount of time very big numbers, is perhaps one of the most important illustrations of the
capabilities quantum computers will have in the future. This breakthrough has captured the world’s
attention because it meant that the security of public key cryptosystems is threatened, (since many
encryption methods rely nowadays on the use of the factorization of very big numbers, a task that
until Shor’s Algorithm no algorithm has managed to solve efficiently in a reasonable amount of time).

In The article named “Recent Progress in Quantum Algorithms”, many quantum algorithms have
been exposed, one of the most exciting areas in which I think quantum computer will perform well is
the simulation of quantum objects. Dave Bacon and Wim van Dam think that quantum computers,
thanks to their very inherent nature, will help us better simulate quantum phenomena than classical
computers do. I do agree with them on this point. It can be very difficult to simulate accurately
quantum systems made up from multiple objects using conventional computers, despite the increase
we have witnessed in the calculation speed and the storage capacities of modern computers. And
advances in the quantum computing field will certainly help us overcome the challenges we have
encountered in many fields such as nanotechnology, microbiology, physical chemistry. And every
development in these fundamental areas, as everyone knows, can very often lead to concrete
applications in a big variety of fields.

If there is something I would disagree on with the writers of the article, it would then be an assertion
they made in the first part of the article, the part titled ”the Quantum Theory in a Nutshell”.

The two writers believe that “ quantum computing can be learned without mastering vast amounts
of physics, but instead by learning a few simple differences between quantum and classical
information.”

I personally don’t think that we can understand the theory of quantum computing without having a
deep understanding of the laws of quantum mechanics, and a full understanding of the formalism
developed by Dirac and other pioneering scientists to study the quantum phenomena. A deep
understanding of the notions of a state, of an observable, of the Schrödinger differential equation, of
the wave function and the amplitude and how it relates to the probabilities is essential to understand
the theory behind quantum computing. The mathematical formalism developed by Dirac is also to be
used as it helps express equations, phenomena in a very elegant and self-explaining way.

It is also necessary to understand how measurement is different in how we comprehend in general


from the meaning it has in the quantum theory. All these notions do lead to confusions in the mind
of anyone new to this field, a mere comparison as stated in the article between “quantum and
classical information” theory can lead to a superficial understanding of the theory behind quantum
computers. Quantum mechanics has many results that may seem counter intuitive. Not paying
attention to the theory may lead to misinterpretations of phenomena that can hold back every
development in the field of quantum computing and quantum algorithms.

And a knowledge also in computer science, in how conventional computers work, is at least as
necessary for this area of research. That’s why teams who work on developing quantum algorithms
need to be very interdisciplinary. Knowledge from many different fields is to be combined to develop
quantum algorithms that can outperform the conventional one, and also to overcome the obstacles
that prevent us from building a many q-bit powerful quantum computer.
The article insists on the multidisciplinary character of research teams in the field of quantum
computing, like when the writers said : “Today's quantum algorithm designers plunder ideas from
physics, mathematics, and chemistry, weld them with the tried and true methods of classical
computer science, in order to build a new generation of quantum contraptions which can
outperform their classical counterparts.”

To conclude, I think that quantum computing is a very promising field, although important progress
has been made in this area, a lot of work needs to be done in order to have a functioning powerful
quantum computer in this future. One of the factors that prevent the development of efficient
quantum algorithm is the lack of powerful hardware, but this problem will be certainly overcome if
we combine different approaches from different research areas to advance quantum computing.

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