INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTING

Today we start our blog of articles on quantum computing for non-programmers, interested in the subject with a passion for learning new things and always being at the Forefront of technological knowledge.

We are an interdisciplinary team made up of system engineers, mechatronics engineers and biologists with experience in programming and passionate about the quantum subject.

We Will start from the most basic concepts into quantum algorithms, their implications in today´s world and all applications at an industrial level, developing some topics in the pharmaceutical, textile and molecule simulations areas.

To focus on the subject, we will share some basics concepts:

What is an algorithm?

They are a set of well-defined instructions or rules that allow you to solve a problem, process data, perform calculations or other activities. There are qualitative and quantitative algorithms, which involve in their structure input, process, and output of data.

An algorithm is qualitative when no numerical calculations are involved in the steps of instructions. An algorithm is quantitative when is necessary numerical calculations to give solutions a different case

Computational algorithms, an algorithm whose resolution depends on computation, and which can be performed by a calculator or computer without difficulty

What is a quantum algorithm? 

It is the same set of well-defined rules that are executed in a realistic model of quantum computing. The idea of quantum algorithms is to store information in a superposition of quantum states, manipulate them by unit transformations, and extract useful information from the resulting state.

In other words, the quantum algorithms consist of applying a finite series of transformation (or quantum gates) to an initial state to produce a final state, Quantum algorithm are based on finite quantum systems and deal with complex vector spaces of finite dimension

One of the best-know algorithms is proposed by Peter Shor in 1994 to factor numbers in time and space; and other is the algorithm proposes by Low Grover that speeds up searching in databases, and that according to recent research, can occur spontaneously in nature and appears to be present in DNA assembly

What is a quantum computer?

It is a computer that takes advantage of quantum mechanics by taking advantage of processing power

What is a Qubit?

It is a quantum bit of information in quantum computing, they are represented by the superposition of several possible states. While the primary bits can only represent 0 or 1; Qubits can represent a 0, a 1, or any proportion of both states with a given probability of being a 0 and a given probability of being 1. This is because it uses trapped ions, photons, artificial or real atoms or quasiparticles.

Depending on the function of the architecture, some implementations require Qubits to be kept at temperatures close to absolute zero

What is quantum computing?

it is a branch of computing that is based mainly on the superposition of electrons and quantum entanglement to develop a computation different from the traditional.

Superposition gives quantum computers superior computing power, exponentially increasing information processing in a fraction of the time.

While a binary machine would take millions of years finding the prime factor of a 2048-bit number, a quantum machine would perform the calculation in minutes.

To try understanding this concept in the first place, we need to know how classical computing works. Classical computing works by means of a binary or digital system of information (ON and OFF or 0 and 1) which together with digital gates and many combinations, the actual PCs, smartphones, sensors and others can operate.

In Quantum Computing, the fundamental base of information is not bit (0 or 1), it is the Qubit (0 and 1 at the same time) which allows a quantum processor to execute information more efficiently. For instance, if a unit of information is represented for a light bulb, in a digital or classical system, that light bulb can be only in one of two states (on or off), but in a quantum system that light bulb can be in both and more states at the same time as on and off.

 But, in addition, a Qubit can be in multiple states measured with probability distributions as:

That property of Qubits is named Quantum Superposition which is one of special features of sub-atomic particles described by Quantum Physics, which boosts quantum computer processing exponentially more than classical computers.

Superposition allows other quantum mechanical phenomena such as interference and entanglement to be used, creating computational power to solve problems at exponential speed.

Quantum superposition resembles wave superposition, when the amplitudes of two waves arrive together, in phase, their intensities intensify, but when they arrive opposite, they cancel.

In our next article we will continue talking about this interesting topic

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