On the 23rd of
Oct, I was scrolling down Google Chrome’s home page for some interesting news.
In the midst of which politician backstabbed which party and government denying
economic slowdown, I saw something that instantly grabbed my attention.
The news quoted, “Google has claimed to achieve Quantum Supremacy!”.
Now, what the hell is “Quantum Supremacy” and how Google achieved it? Let's find out.
Quantum Supremacy is when a Quantum Computer beats the best Supercomputer in solving some kind of problem. Before getting into it we need to first understand how quantum computers work and how they are different from the computers we have.
For doing this we have to discuss two phenomena of quantum physics- “Superposition” and “Entanglement” which gives quantum computers an edge over the classical computers.
Superposition states that a quantum system can be in different states at the exact same time untill it is unobserved. Now we know that classical computers work on bits which are either 0 or 1.
Quantum Computers work on qubits (quantum bits) which are in a superposition of probabilities for 0 and 1 (like it can be 0 or 1 or an intermediate state), and you can’t predict which one will it be. But the instant you measure it, it collapses into one of its state. This is what gives that incredible processing power to the quantum computer.
For example- 2 bits can be in one of the 4 different configurations (00, 01, 10, 11) at one time. 2 qubits can be in all the four configurations at the same time storing more information than bits.
Entanglement is a close connection that makes each of the qubits react to a change in the other’s state instantaneously, no matter how far they are. This means by measuring just one entangled qubit, you can directly deduce properties of its partners without having to look. This property is so weird that the great scientist Albert Einstein called it “Spooky action at a distance”.
In classical computers there are logic gates, which takes a set of inputs and produce a definite output while in Quantum computers there are Quantum Gates, which takes an input of superpositions and produces another superposition as its output and measures the outcome, collapsing superpositions to an actual sequence of 0s and 1s.
It means that you get all the calculations that are possible with your input at the same time. Ultimately you can only measure one of the results and it will probably be the one you want.
Now coming back to Quantum Supremacy, Google has claimed to achieve it with its quantum computer having a 53 qubit Sycamore Processor by beating IBM’s supercomputer in solving a complex circuit.
The news quoted, “Google has claimed to achieve Quantum Supremacy!”.
Now, what the hell is “Quantum Supremacy” and how Google achieved it? Let's find out.
Quantum Supremacy is when a Quantum Computer beats the best Supercomputer in solving some kind of problem. Before getting into it we need to first understand how quantum computers work and how they are different from the computers we have.
For doing this we have to discuss two phenomena of quantum physics- “Superposition” and “Entanglement” which gives quantum computers an edge over the classical computers.
Superposition states that a quantum system can be in different states at the exact same time untill it is unobserved. Now we know that classical computers work on bits which are either 0 or 1.
Quantum Computers work on qubits (quantum bits) which are in a superposition of probabilities for 0 and 1 (like it can be 0 or 1 or an intermediate state), and you can’t predict which one will it be. But the instant you measure it, it collapses into one of its state. This is what gives that incredible processing power to the quantum computer.
For example- 2 bits can be in one of the 4 different configurations (00, 01, 10, 11) at one time. 2 qubits can be in all the four configurations at the same time storing more information than bits.
Entanglement is a close connection that makes each of the qubits react to a change in the other’s state instantaneously, no matter how far they are. This means by measuring just one entangled qubit, you can directly deduce properties of its partners without having to look. This property is so weird that the great scientist Albert Einstein called it “Spooky action at a distance”.
In classical computers there are logic gates, which takes a set of inputs and produce a definite output while in Quantum computers there are Quantum Gates, which takes an input of superpositions and produces another superposition as its output and measures the outcome, collapsing superpositions to an actual sequence of 0s and 1s.
It means that you get all the calculations that are possible with your input at the same time. Ultimately you can only measure one of the results and it will probably be the one you want.
Now coming back to Quantum Supremacy, Google has claimed to achieve it with its quantum computer having a 53 qubit Sycamore Processor by beating IBM’s supercomputer in solving a complex circuit.
While the race for the
first commercially viable quantum computer continues, Quantum Computers can
definitely revolutionise our world we see today.
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