Quantum Computing — The Texas Scientist

Take the principles of quantum mechanics. Add the imagination of computer scientists. What you get is a mind-bending technological advance called a quantum computer, with links, past and present, to the UT Austin campus.

Setting a Foundation: UT Austin physicist John A. Wheeler assembled a group of graduate students and postdocs who made seminal contributions in the 1970s and 80s. Former Longhorns include David Deutsch, who cofounded the field of quantum computation by describing mathematical principles for a universal quantum computer; Wojciech Zurek (PhD ’79), who cofounded the subfield of quantum-error correction; and Benjamin Schumacher (PhD ’90), who coined the term “qubit” for a component that processes and stores information in a quantum computer.

Showing Supremacy: Scott Aaronson, professor of computer science and founder of a new UT Austin center dedicated to quantum information, develops tests that quantum computers have to pass to prove they’ve reached a key milestone called “quantum supremacy” – performing a task that would take astronomical amounts of time for a traditional computer.

Taking a Test Drive: In a new research stream of the Freshman Research Initiative, undergraduates explore all aspects of quantum computing, from implementing algorithms to performing quantum-error corrections. The stream is hosted by the Center for Quantum Research at the university’s Applied Research Labs, which does experimental and theoretical work in quantum computing, quantum cryptography and quantum emulation (meaning using analog electronics to mimic the behavior of a quantum computer).

Exploring Information: The Departments of Physics and Computer Science are currently recruiting additional faculty members who research quantum information. In addition to continuing his current work, Scott Aaronson plans to study the properties of machine learning algorithms designed specifically for quantum computers and to apply tools from quantum information theory to answer questions such as, What happens to information in a black hole?

Listen to the podcast interview with our quantum computing expert.

Quantum computers might sound like science fiction. A fully functioning quantum computer could complete calculations in a matter of seconds that would take a conventional computer millions of years to process. Science fiction or not, they’re already here. Scientists at Google, Microsoft, IBM and elsewhere are building and studying them. At this point, they’re not very powerful. But Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, believes in the next few years, one of these teams may achieve something called quantum supremacy—the first demonstration of a quantum computer doing something faster than a conventional computer. In this episode, Aaronson lays out a timeline of quantum computing advances, explains what kinds of things they’ll be able to do and even explore one potential downside—breaking the encryption we use to keep everything from credit card information and medical records private. Image: The cooling system for Google’s superconducting quantum computer About Point of Discovery Point of Discovery is a production of the University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences. You can listen to all our episodes at @point-of-discovery . You can also subscribe via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/point-of-discovery-podcast/id1036884430?mt=2 or via our RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:150441582/sounds.rss or via Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery or via Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Igc5ifenl2bn7e5n2klmrwah7qq?t=Point_of_Discovery Questions or comments about this episode, or our series in general? Email Marc Airhart at mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu