Quantum computing

What is quantum computing?

What’s the first thing you think of when I say this?
Let’s break this down: Quantum is a discrete quantity of energy. Energy packets.
Classical computers work on bits; 0s and 1s
But Quantum computers:
A qubit (or quantum bit) is the quantum mechanical analogue of a classical bit. In
classical computing the information is encoded in bits, where each bit can have the
value zero or one. In quantum computing the information is encoded in qubits. A qubit is
a two-level quantum system where the two basis qubit states.

Regular computers use bits, which are either ones or zeros, to process information.
These bits are passed through logic gates, like AND, OR, NOT, and XOR, that
manipulate the data and produce the desired output. These gates are made using
transistors and are based on the properties of silicon semiconductors. While classical
computers are efficient and fast, they struggle with problems that involve exponential
complexity, such as factoring large numbers.

Below it is shown that a general pure qubit state is described by two real numbers, while
above we stated that a generic qubit state is described by two complex parameters
(probability amplitudes). This apparent contradiction is solved by the following: First of
all, the sum of the probabilities of measuring any of the states should always add to 1.
This condition constraints the description already to three real parameters. Another
aspect from quantum mechanics is that scaling of a qubit state by a scaling vector does
not change the measurable properties (observables) of a quantum state. This means
that all probability amplitudes can always be scaled by an arbitrary (real) factor without
changing any of the observable properties of the system. This is also known as scaling
by a global phase factor. This condition constraints the system to a state which can be
defined by two real parameters.

Why Quantum computing?

Quantum computing is the future because it can solve large scale and complex
problems faster and cheaper than today’s most powerful supercomputers. Quantum
computing can accelerate advances in emerging technologies, such as biotechnology,
artificial intelligence, and climate change. Quantum computing can also create whole
new families of drugs, industrial processes, and methods of exploration. Quantum
computing is rapidly approaching commercial viability and attracting billions of dollars of
investment

Quantum parallelism

Parallelism in general is the process of executing many tasks at once. However, in

quantum computing, only one task is completed at once, but a problem with many
solutions can have all solutions found at once. This is proven by the concept of quantum
entanglement. Leads to new algorithms and new complexity classes.

Superposition
One of the properties that sets a qubit apart from a classical bit is that it can be in
superposition. Superposition is one of the fundamental principles of quantum
mechanics. In classical physics, a wave describing a musical tone can be seen as
several waves with different frequencies that are added together, superposed. Similarly,
a quantum state in superposition can be seen as a linear combination of other distinct
quantum states. This quantum state in superposition forms a new valid quantum state.

Entanglement

Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon of a group of particles being generated,

interacting, or sharing spatial proximity in such a way that the quantum state of each
particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of the others,
including when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic of quantum
entanglement is at the heart of the disparity between classical and quantum physics:
entanglement is a primary feature of quantum mechanics not present in classical
mechanics.

Fundamentals of Quantum Computing

- Reversible logic gates

Classical computation can be broken down into a series of steps, each logically
reversible, and this in turn allows the physical reversibility of the computation. This
causes energy loss though.
The reversible computer calculates for a few steps, then drifts back a bit (uncalculating),
before it drifts forward again to eventually complete the calculation with almost zero
energy loss.

Quantum complexity

- Study of algorithms
- Universality
- Quantum computers evolve a coherent superposition of quantum states so that
each of these states could follow a distinct computational path until a final
measurement is made out of the output.
 - It is therefore certainly conceptually possible that in certain scenarios, quantum
computers are in fact better than classical computers.
- A great example would be the Shor’s algorithm.

Shor’s algorithm

Shor’s Factorization Algorithm - GeeksforGeeks

Advantages:

Speed: Quantum computers can perform certain calculations much faster than classical
computers, making them well-suited for tasks that involve a large amount of data or
complex mathematical calculations.

Parallelism: Quantum computing allows for the parallel processing of information,

which means that multiple computations can be performed simultaneously. This can
significantly speed up certain tasks, such as searching large databases.

Cryptography: Quantum computing has the potential to break many of the encryption
methods currently used to secure data. However, it also has the potential to develop
new and more secure encryption methods, which could be more resistant to attacks by
hackers.

Chemistry: Quantum computing can simulate the behavior of molecules at a level of

detail that is not possible with classical computing. This could lead to new discoveries in
drug design, materials science, and other areas.

Disadvantages of Quantum Computers

Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize the field of computing, but they
also come with a number of disadvantages. Some of the main challenges and
limitations of quantum computing include:

1. Noise and decoherence: One of the biggest challenges in building a quantum

computer is the problem of noise and decoherence. Quantum systems are
extremely sensitive to their environment, and any noise or disturbance can
cause errors in the computation. This makes it difficult to maintain the delicate
 quantum state of the qubits and to perform accurate and reliable
computations.

2. Scalability: Another major challenge is scalability. Building a large-scale

quantum computer with a large number of qubits is extremely difficult, as it
requires the precise control of a large number of quantum systems. Currently,
the number of qubits that can be controlled and manipulated in a laboratory
setting is still quite small, which limits the potential of quantum computing.

3. Error correction: Error correction is another major challenge in quantum

computing. In classical computing, errors can be corrected using
error-correcting codes, but in quantum computing, the errors are much more
difficult to detect and correct, due to the nature of quantum systems.

4. Lack of robust quantum algorithms: Even though some quantum algorithms

have been developed, their number is still limited, and many problems that
can be solved using classical computers have no known quantum algorithm.

5. High cost: Building and maintaining a quantum computer is extremely

expensive, due to the need for specialized equipment and highly trained
personnel. The cost of building a large-scale quantum computer is also likely
to be quite high, which could limit the availability of quantum computing to
certain groups or organizations.

6. Power consumption: Quantum computers are extremely power-hungry, due to

the need to maintain the delicate quantum state of the qubits. This makes it
difficult to scale up quantum computing to larger systems, as the power
requirements become prohibitively high.

Applications of quantum computing in AI

Quantum computing and artificial intelligence are both transformational technologies

and artificial intelligence needs quantum computing to achieve significant progress.
Although artificial intelligence produces functional applications with classical computers,
it is limited by the computational capabilities of classical computers. Quantum
computing can provide a computation boost to artificial intelligence, enabling it to tackle
more complex problems in many fields in business and science.

Keeping in mind that the term “quantum AI” means the use of quantum computing for
computation of machine learning algorithms, which takes advantage of computational
superiority of quantum computing, to achieve results that are not possible to achieve
with classical computers, the following are some of the applications of this super mix of
quantum computing and AI.

Quantum computers are designed to manage the huge amount of data, along with
uncovering patterns and spotting anomalies extremely quickly. With each newly
launched iteration of quantum computer design and the new improvements made on the
quantum error-correction code, developers are now able to better manage the potential
of quantum bits. Also optimizes the same for solving all kinds of business problems to
make better decisions.

Quantum computing X cybersecurity

Quantum computing holds great promise in many areas, such as medical research,
artificial intelligence, weather forecasting, etc. But it also poses a significant threat to
cybersecurity, requiring a change in how we encrypt our data. Even though quantum
computers don’t technically have the power to break most of our current forms of
encryption yet, we need to stay ahead of the threat and come up with quantum-proof
solutions now. If we wait until those powerful quantum computers start breaking our
encryption, it will be too late. Regardless of when quantum computers will be
commercially available, another reason to quantum-proof data now is the threat from
nefarious actors scraping data. They are already stealing data and holding onto it until
they can get their hands on a quantum computer to decrypt it. At that point, the data will
have already been compromised. The only way to ensure the security of information,
particularly information that needs to remain secure well into the future, is to safeguard
it now with quantum-safe key delivery.

Much of today’s encryption is based on mathematical formulas that would take today’s
computers an impractically long time to decode. To simplify this, think of two large
numbers, for example, and multiply them together. It’s easy to come up with the
product, but much harder to start with the large number and factor it into its two prime
numbers. A quantum computer, however, can easily factor those numbers and break
the code. Peter Shor developed a quantum algorithm (aptly named Shor’s algorithm)
that easily factors large numbers far more quickly than a classical computer. Since then,
scientists have been working on developing quantum computers that can factor
increasingly larger numbers.

Quantum computers will be able to solve problems that are far too complex for classical
computers to figure out. This includes solving the algorithms behind encryption keys
that protect our data and the Internet’s infrastructure. Researchers have been working
hard in the last several years to develop “quantum-safe” encryption. The American
Scientist reported that the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is
already evaluating 69 potential new methods for what it calls “post-quantum
cryptography (PQC).”

There are a lot of questions surrounding quantum computing, and scientists continue to
work diligently to answer them. When it comes to the impact of quantum computing on
cybersecurity, though, one thing is certain: it will pose a threat to cybersecurity and our
current forms of encryption. To mitigate that threat we need to change how we keep our
data secure and start doing it now. We need to approach the quantum threat as we do
other security vulnerabilities: by deploying a defense-in-depth approach, one
characterized by multiple layers of quantum-safe protection. Security-forward
organizations understand this need for crypto agility and are seeking crypto-diverse
solutions like those offered by Quantum Xchange to make their encryption
quantum-safe now, and quantum-ready for tomorrow’s threats.