Physics & Astronomy
Colloquium
A computer is generally considered to be a universal computational
device; that is, it is believed able to simulate any physical
computational device with a cost in computation time of at most
a polynomial factor. It is not clear whether this is still true
if quantum mechanics is taken into consideration. A quantum
computer is a hypothetical machine which uses quantum mechanics
to perform computations. We will explain quantum computing, and give
an algorithm for prime factorization on a quantum computer that runs
much faster than the best known algorithm for a classical computer.
So far, quantum computers are purely thought experiments; it is not
clear whether it will be possible to build one. One of the main
difficulties in building quantum computers is in manipulating coherent
quantum states without losing coherence. We briefly discuss quantum
error-correcting codes, which to some extent can protect quantum states
from decoherence and other forms of error.
3:30 PM, Friday, February 27, 1997
Room 155, Chem-Phys Building
Dr. Peter Shor
AT&T
``Quantum Computing''
Refreshments will be served in CP 179 at 3:15 PM
Spring Schedule