How Schrodinger’s cat could rescue quantum computing
Groundbreaking research suggests that changes in quantum states are neither abrupt nor random
The news that scientists have found a way to save Schrodinger’s imaginary feline friend could hold the key to the future of quantum computing, as well as being good news for cat lovers everywhere. The new research rewrites dogma in quantum physics and promises a possible solution to the problem of errors in quantum computing.
In the famous thought experiment, Schrodinger places his cat in a sealed box with a flask of poison and radioactive material. A single atom of leaking radiation is enough to shatter the flask and poison the cat. Quantum superposition theory suggests that until someone looks inside the box, the cat is both alive and dead, but the mere act of opening the box immediately changes the cat’s quantum state to either alive or dead. This change, which was believed to be instantaneous and unpredictable, is called a quantum jump.
Until now, the assumption was that particles take on discrete, rather than continuous states, or in other words, property changes happen in an abrupt way, rather than flowing between states. For example, an electron in a low energy state will snap rather than transition into a higher energy state when more energy is added. When you are not looking, superposition kicks in and it is in both states and somewhere in-between, all at the same time. Like Schrodinger’s cat, as soon as you look, it changes into one state or the other.
Researchers at Yale University appear to have demonstrated that although quantum jumps are very fast, they are neither abrupt nor random. The implication is that it might be possible to detect and anticipate imminent jumps. In the field of quantum computing, spotting errors before they arise could offer ways of preventing them.
Quantum computers are particularly prone to errors because qubits — the quantum equivalent of the bits that store information in the computers we have today — are highly sensitive to external noise. At present, qubits only function “coherently” when they are cooled down to mere thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, which also protects them from the destabilizing effects of radiation, light, sound, vibrations and magnetic fields. All of this limits the size and complexity of problems that quantum computers are currently able to tackle.
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The IEC and ISO have set up a study group in their joint technical committee (JTC 1/SC 7) to identify the standardization needs of quantum computing. After completing an initial study of key concepts and describing the relevant terminology, the international group of experts will study the requirements of society, markets and technology for future standardization, as well as studying current technologies that are being used in quantum computing.
