Using Quantum mechanic to do computation.
An overview of quantum computer and quantum computation.
Computers are amazing they allow us to do a wide range of calculations in a split of a second. But unfortunately, they have a limit in what they can do. This is why some researchers are turning toward this new and exciting field of quantum computing.
Quantum computing was proposed and begin in 1980 when a physicist called Paul Benioff proposed a quantum model for the Turing machine. It was then suggested by Richard Feynman that a quantum computer had the capability to simulate things that a classical computer can not do.
The big difference between a classical computer and a quantum computer is what they use to do computation. A classical computer use bit to do computation on the other hand quantum computer use quantum bit or qubit to do computation.
But what is the differrence between a bit and a qubit ?
A bit is the most basic unit in a computer it can only take on of two value that are 0 or 1 and those 0 and 1 corresponde to the electrical signal in a computer (signal on = 1/ signal off = 0). Those bit are put together to make bytes to store data and execute instruction.
A qubit on the other hand as also the possibility of being represented as a 1 or 0 but it can also be both ( superposition ) instead of being an electrical signal a qubit can be made of many things the only condition it has to be able to get into a superposition, for example, an atomic nucleus or subatomic particle.
Superposition
Superposition is one of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. It states that any two states (or more) of a quantum object can be put together (superposed) to create a new valid state. This principales can be better understand with the Schrodinger cat tough experiment.
The thought experiment goes as follows. Imagine a hypothetical cat in a sealed box whit at its side a poison, a Geiger counter , a radioactive material, and a hammer. The amount of radioactive material was small enough that there was only a 50\50 chance of being detected. If the Geiger counter detected a sign of radiation, the hammer would smash the poison thus killing the cat. In this scenario, we can considere to be in a superposition because it may be both alive and dead.
Spooky action at a disctance.
Entanglement is a quantum mechanic phenomenon in which the state of two or more quantum objects has a correlation or connection between them even when there a separated. This allows a measurement made on one of the entangled objects to be influencing the other object entangled with it.
This phenomenon was described by Einstein as spooky action at a distance.
“Spooky action at a distance.”
― Albert Einstein
As state, before a quantum computer can make computation and solve problem that will be impossible to do on a classical computer. One of the most promising use of quantum computer is modeling chemical reactions.
Because of the astounding large number of states in the molecule, it is extremely difficult to model molecule. It is in fact so large that even the strongest supercomputer that we have as difficulty modeling even small molecule. But for a quantum computer, this task is extremely easy.
