The Top 6 mind-blowing Interesting Facts about Quantum Computers!

                    Things get really ‘deep’ with Quantum computing. With Quantum Computing in hand we will be dealing with particles much less than the size of an atom. At such smaller dimensions, the ‘rules of Physics’ simply do not make any sense.  This is where interesting things begin to happen: Particles can move back and forth in time, exist simultaneously or even switch between parallel universes. Quantum computers can solve problems that no ordinary computer can solve. They can break encryptions and provide a new form of Quantum encryption that will be hard to crack. Basically the power of Quantum computing boils down to ‘Qubits’ (like bits in binary system ) that can be used to process a large quantity of information efficiently than the conventional method.

  1  Less Power

Power is a critical factor in any technology. The world’s fastest supercomputer (at the time of writing this article) Tianhe 2, draws 17.6 MW of power. It is obvious that a huge array of computers indeed need a hefty amount of power supply to sustain their performance. But with Quantum Physics, it gets fascinating; Quantum computers will reduce power consumption by a factor of 100! The Quantum Computer Power consumption will be drastically reduced to a level through Tunneling effect.  This effect could help in building power-efficient circuits that don’t give up heat.

  2 Blazing Speeds

 
                                 Quantum computers are mighty in terms of computations. They can perform calculations in parallel since they can exist in more than just 0’s and 1’s state. You can imagine the classical bit as a line whereas a Qubit is a sphere containing all possible states between 0 and 1 and it can calculate at such states simultaneously (aka Superposition). Highly efficient algorithms for cracking the codes have been proposed that can factor huge numbers at speeds that are nearly impossible to attain by a conventional computer. Mainly the power of Quantum computation lies in ‘Quantum Parallelism’ i.e. the ability of a single Quantum processor to perform more than one calculation simultaneously! Conventional computers need Computer processors linked in parallel to do that.

  3  Into Alternate realities

          From the Quantum physics perspective, we deal with something called ‘Multiverse’ or ‘Alternate’ universe. Alternate universes can have many or infinite probable solutions to the same problem. In one alternate universe you might be wearing a red hat and a blue shirt while reading this. In another, you might be reading this with a Google Glass. Similarly, there are different variations of ‘Yous’ doing different things parallely in adjacent universes. A quantum computer can perform ‘n’ calculations in ‘n’ parallel universes and arrive at the final result.  If a conventional computer does ‘N’ operations in ‘n’ second s, a quantum computer can do N² operations at the same time! Let’s say we are in a chess match: Garry Kasparov vs. Vishwanathan Anand. Well, that sounds so human. So let’s remove an opponent and replace it with a Quantum machine i.e., Garry Kasparov vs. a Quantum Computer. If you remember some history, Garry had already competed with IBM’s Deep Blue and has lost the chess match since the computer examined 200 Million Chess positions per second. That’s far beyond brain’s ability. But if the machine were a Quantum computer, it would have calculated according to the following table.

Time (seconds)	Chess positions
1	1 Trillion
2	4 Trillion
3	9 Trillion

And at that such speed, if you were to play the chess game with that computer, the only possible way to win is to shut it down!

  4  Security Re-defined

          Computer security will face a great changeover with Quantum Computing. Quantum computers will have the power to break security codes in a short span. In contrast, they could provide security that no conventional computer on Earth could provide. For instance, they can break ‘Public Key’ based RSA encryption systems and easily take control over online transactions WiFi, bank and email accounts. Since encryption systems like RSA, DSA etc are more widely spread in the cyber space, the chances of getting hacked by Quantum computers also increases.  On the other hand, they will be able to provide unbreakable security. Simply the act of ‘observing’ could mess up and change the data that is transmitted. Therefore, even if the hacker or spy gets a chance to peek into the data that is sent from a Quantum Computer, the information will be modified.  Adding to the hacker’s bad luck, the one who transfers the information will be aware that it’s being compromised.

  5  Really Cool

The temperatures that are needed to maintain a stable condition for performing such calculations should be really low. The atoms, in their ordinary state keep moving. Although we wouldn’t be able to observe it with normal devices. To control these atoms, they must be kept stable. And the only way to keep them stable is by reducing the temperature to ‘zero’ Kelvin where the atoms drop dead and stay stable without liberating heat. D-wave system quantum computers cool their Quantum processors to a very low temperature, a temperature that is 100 times cooler than the deep interstellar space, around 20milli Kelvin!

  6 A.I Game Changer

            The Artificial Intelligence of today is in its beginning stages but still lacks the factors that make them really ‘Intelligent’. For instance, the world’s most advanced Robot can walk into a room, recognize shapes and humans but still has the brain of a retarded cockroach. Quantum Computers have an edge over conventional computers in terms of information processing. With 300 bits, we would be able to map the entire universe! Similarly, Quantum computers can solve the Travelling salesman problem(TSP) in seconds what takes for a classical computer with the best software to solve, 30 minutes, making Quantum computers 3600 times efficient in problem solving. The TSP problem basically finds shortest path between the cities. Easy as that sounds, it gets increasingly complex when the number of cities is added!

Quantum Computers will ultimately help us understand the unsolved mysteries of the universe and the beauty of randomness. Evolution needs stuffs like these often.

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