Daily Archives: April 20, 2024

The potential of quantum computing is immense, but the distances over which entangled particles can reliably carry information remains a massive hurdle. The tiniest of disturbances can make a scrambled mess of their relationship.

To circumvent the problem, quantum computing researchers have found ways to stabilize long lengths of optical fibers or used satellites to preserve signals through the near-vacuum of space.

Yet there's more to a quantum-based network than a transmission. Scientists struggled to crack their long sought-after goal of developing a system of interconnected units or 'repeaters' that can also store and retrieve quantum information much like classical computers do, to extend the network's reach.

Now, a team of researchers have created a system of atomic processing nodes that can contain the critical states created by a quantum dot at wavelengths compatible with existing telecommunications infrastructure.

It requires two devices: one to produce and potentially entangle photons, and another 'memory' component that can store and retrieve the all-important quantum states within those photons on demand without disturbing them.

"Interfacing two key devices together is a crucial step forward in allowing quantum networking, and we are really excited to be the first team to have been able to demonstrate this," says quantum optics physicist and lead author Sarah Thomas, from the Imperial College London (ICL).

Made partly in Germany and assembled at ICL, the newly proposed system places a semiconductor quantum dot capable of emitting a single photon at a time in a cloud of hot rubidium atoms, serving as quantum memory. A laser turns the memory component 'on' and 'off', allowing the photons' states to be stored and released from the rubidium cloud on demand.

The distances over which this particular system could transmit quantum memories haven't been tested it's just a proof-of-concept prototype in a basement lab, one based on photons that aren't even entangled. But the feat could lay a solid foundation for the quantum internet, better than relying on entangled photons alone.

"This first-of-its-kind demonstration of on-demand recall of quantum dot light from an atomic memory is the first crucial step toward hybrid quantum light-matter interfaces for scalable quantum networks," the team writes in their published paper.

Researchers in quantum computing have been trying to link up photon light sources and processing nodes that store quantum data for some time, without much success.

"This includes us, having tried this experiment twice before with different memory and quantum dot devices, going back more than five years, which just shows how hard it is to do," says study co-author Patrick Ledingham, an experimental quantum physicist from the University of Southampton in the UK.

Part of the problem was that the photon-emitting quantum dots and atomic 'memory' nodes used so far were tuned to different wavelengths; their bandwidths incompatible with each other.

In 2020, a team from China tried chilling rubidium atoms to lure them into the same entangled state as the photons, but those photons then had to be converted to a suitable frequency for transmitting them along optic fibers which can create noise, destabilizing the system.

The memory system designed by Thomas and colleagues has a bandwidth wide enough to interface with the wavelengths emitted by the quantum dot and low enough noise so as not to disturb entangled photons.

While the feat is significant, the researchers are still working to improve their prototype. To create quantum network-ready devices, they want to try extending storage times, increasing the overlap between the quantum dots and atomic nodes, and shrinking the size of the system. They also need to test their system with entangled photons.

For now, it remains a tenuous thread, but one day we could see this technology or something like it covering the world in a web of delicate yet stable quantum networks.

The study has been published in Science Advances.

Continued here:

Major First: Quantum Information Produced, Stored, And Retrieved - ScienceAlert

Businesses are one step closer to quantum cloud computing, thanks to a breakthrough made in its security and privacy by scientists at Oxford University.

The researchers used an approach dubbed blind quantum computing to connect two quantum computing entities (Figure A); this simulates the situation where an employee at home or in an office remotely connects to a quantum server via the cloud. With this method, the quantum server provider does not need to know any details of the computation for it to be carried out, keeping the users proprietary work secure. The user can also easily verify the authenticity of their result, confirming it is neither erroneous nor corrupted.

Figure A

Ensuring the security and privacy of quantum computations is one of the most significant roadblocks that has held the powerful technology back so far, so this work could lead to it finally entering the mainstream.

Despite only being tested on a small scale, the researchers say their experiment has the potential to be scaled up to large quantum computations. Plug-in devices could be developed that safeguard a workers data while they access quantum cloud computing services.

Professor David Lucas, the co-head of the Oxford University Physics research team, said in a press release: We have shown for the first time that quantum computing in the cloud can be accessed in a scalable, practical way which will also give people complete security and privacy of data, plus the ability to verify its authenticity.

Classical computers process information as binary bits represented as 1s and 0s, but quantum computers do so using quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits exist as both a 1 and a 0 at the same time, but with a probability of being one or the other that is determined by their quantum state. This property enables quantum computers to tackle certain calculations much faster than classical computers, as they can solve problems simultaneously.

Quantum cloud computing is where quantum resources are provided to users remotely over the internet; this allows anyone to utilise quantum computing without the need for specialised hardware or expertise.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Quantum computing: An insiders guide

With typical quantum cloud computing, the user must divulge the problem they are trying to solve to the cloud provider; this is because the providers infrastructure needs to understand the specifics of the problem so it can allocate the appropriate resources and execution parameters. Naturally, in the case of proprietary work, this presents a security concern.

This security risk is minimised with the blind quantum computing method because the user remotely controls the quantum processor of the server themselves during a computation. The information required to keep the data secure like the input, output and algorithmic details only needs to be known by the client because the server does not make any decisions with it.

Never in history have the issues surrounding privacy of data and code been more urgently debated than in the present era of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, said Professor Lucas in the press release.

As quantum computers become more capable, people will seek to use them with complete security and privacy over networks, and our new results mark a step change in capability in this respect.

Quantum computing is vastly more powerful than conventional computing, and could revolutionise how we work if it is successfully scaled out of the research phase. Examples include solving supply chain problems, optimising routes and securing communications.

In February, the U.K. government announced a 45 million ($57 million) investment into quantum computing; the money goes toward finding practical uses for quantum computing and creating a quantum-enabled economy by 2033. In March, quantum computing was singled out in the Ministerial Declaration, with G7 countries agreeing to work together to promote the development of quantum technologies and foster collaboration between academia and industry. Just this month, the U.K.s second commercial quantum computer came online.

Due to the extensive power and refrigeration requirements, very few quantum computers are currently commercially available. However, several leading cloud providers do offer so-called quantum-as-a-service to corporate clients and researchers. Googles Cirq, for example, is an open source quantum computing platform, while Amazon Braket allows users to test their algorithms on a local quantum simulator. IBM, Microsoft and Alibaba also have quantum-as-a-service offerings.

WATCH: What classic software developers need to know about quantum computing

But before quantum computing can be scaled up and used for business applications, it is imperative to ensure it can be achieved while safeguarding the privacy and security of customer data. This is what the Oxford University researchers hoped to achieve in their new study, published in Physical Review Letters.

Dr. Peter Dmota, study lead, told TechRepublic in an email: Strong security guarantees will lower the barrier to using powerful quantum cloud computing services, once available, to speed up the development of new technologies, such as batteries and drugs, and for applications that involve highly confidential data, such as private medical information, intellectual property, and defence. Those applications exist also without added security, but would be less likely to be used as widely.

Quantum computing has the potential to drastically improve machine learning. This would supercharge the development of better and more adapted artificial intelligence, which we are already seeing impacting businesses across all sectors.

It is conceivable that quantum computing will have an impact on our lives in the next five to ten years, but it is difficult to forecast the exact nature of the innovations to come. I expect a continuous adaptation process as users start to learn how to use this new tool and how to apply it to their jobs similar to how AI is slowly becoming more relevant at the mainstream workplace right now.

Our research is currently driven by quite general assumptions, but as businesses start to explore the potential of quantum computing for them, more specific requirements will emerge and drive research into new directions.

Blind quantum cloud computing requires connecting a client computer that can detect photons, or particles of light, to a quantum computing server with a fibre optic cable (Figure B). The server generates single photons, which are sent through the fibre network and received by the client.

Figure B

The client then measures the polarisation, or orientation, of the photons, which tells it how to remotely manipulate the server in a way that will produce the desired computation. This can be done without the server needing access to any information about the computation, making it secure.

To provide additional assurance that the results of the computation are not erroneous or have been tampered with, additional tests can be undertaken. While tampering would not harm the security of the data in a blind quantum computation, it could still corrupt the result and leave the client unaware.

The laws of quantum mechanics dont allow copying of information and any attempt to observe the state of the memory by the server or an eavesdropper would corrupt the computation, Dr Dmota explained to TechRepublic in an email. In that case, the user would notice that the server isnt operating faithfully, using a feature called verification, and abort using their service if there are any doubts.

Since the server is blind to the computation ie, is not able to distinguish different computations the client can evaluate the reliability of the server by running simple tests whose results can be easily checked.

These tests can be interleaved with the actual computation until there is enough evidence that the server is operating correctly and the results of the actual computation can be trusted to be correct. This way, honest errors as well as malicious attempts to tamper with the computation can be detected by the client.

Figure C

The researchers found the computations their method produced could be verified robustly and reliably, as per the paper. This means that the client can trust the results have not been tampered with. It is also scalable, as the number of quantum elements being manipulated for performing calculations can be increased without increasing the number of physical qubits in the server and without modifications to the client hardware, the scientists wrote.

Dr. Drmota said in the press release, Using blind quantum computing, clients can access remote quantum computers to process confidential data with secret algorithms and even verify the results are correct, without revealing any useful information. Realising this concept is a big step forward in both quantum computing and keeping our information safe online.

The research was funded by the UK Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub a collaboration of 17 universities supported by commercial and government organisations. It is one of four quantum technology hubs in the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme.

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Quantum Cloud Computing Secured in New Breakthrough at Oxford - TechRepublic

SINGAPORE, April 18, 2024 Horizon Quantum Computing, a company building software development tools for quantum computers, today announced that it is establishing a first-of-its-kind testbed for integrating quantum computing hardware with its software stack, Triple Alpha.

The testbed, which will be set up at Horizons Singapore headquarters, will have the capacity to host multiple quantum computers. By acquiring its own hardware, Horizon gains full control over both hardware and software stacks, allowing it to push the frontiers of quantum computing.

A key aspect of Horizons quantum computing testbed is its modular multi-vendor approach. Rather than utilizing a single-vendor solution, the company has purposely selected best-in-class components from different providers. This modularity allows Horizon to integrate its software stack with different hardware configurations and upgrade the system over time.

The first system will be based on a Novera quantum processor from Rigetti Computing and OPX1000, the processor-based quantum controller from Quantum Machines. The integrated system is expected to be installed by early 2025.

Recent progress on quantum processors and error correction has underscored the rapid pace of progress in the field. We are taking the step of creating this testbed because we believe that tight integration between hardware and software is the shortest path to truly useful quantum computing, said Dr Joe Fitzsimons, Founder & CEO at Horizon Quantum Computing. We are delighted to work with Rigetti Computing and Quantum Machines on our first system.

We are thrilled that Horizon has selected the Novera QPU for their first quantum computing system. Establishing high performing on-premise quantum computing capabilities is key for working towards useful quantum computing, said Dr Subodh Kulkarni, CEO at Rigetti Computing. We cant wait to witness what the Horizon team accomplishes with a quantum computing system powered by the Novera QPU and Quantum Machines control system.

Were excited to partner with Horizon Quantum Computing and Rigetti Computing in this pioneering initiative. Our approach has always emphasized scalability, interoperability and modularity, principles that resonate with Horizons Triple Alpha, said Dr Itamar Sivan, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Machines. This collaboration with industry pioneers like Horizon and Rigetti not only showcases the adaptability and effectiveness of our processor-based OPX1000 controller in diverse setups, but also marks a significant step forward in the collective journey towards useful quantum computers.

About Horizon Quantum Computing

Horizon Quantum Computing is developing a new generation of programming tools to simplify and expedite the process of developing software for quantum computers. By removing the need for prior quantum computing experience to develop applications for quantum hardware, Horizons tools are making the power of quantum computing accessible to every software developer. The company was founded by Dr Joe Fitzsimons in 2018, a former professor with two decades of experience in quantum computing and computational complexity theory. The leadership team also includes Dr Si-Hui Tan, Chief Science Officer, who holds a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and has been actively involved in quantum research for the same period.

Source: Horizon Quantum Computing

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Horizon Quantum Computing to Pioneer Multi-Vendor Quantum Hardware Testbed - HPCwire

Every few decades, the world witnesses technological revolutions that profoundly change our lives. This happened when we first invented computers, when we created the Internet and most recently when artificial intelligence (AI) emerged.

Today, experts frequently speculate that the next revolution will involve technologies grounded in the principles of quantum mechanics. One such technology is quantum computing. Harnessing the unique properties of quantum mechanics, quantum computers promise to achieve superior computational power, solving certain tasks that are beyond the reach of classical computers.

Quantum computers can potentially transform many sectors, from defense and finance to education, logistics and medicine. However, we are currently in a quantum age reminiscent of the pre-silicon era of classical computers. Back then, state-of-the-art computers like ENIAC ran on vacuum tubes, which were large, clunky, and required a lot of power. During the 1950s, experts investigated various platforms to develop the most efficient and effective computing systems. This journey eventually led to the widespread adoption of silicon semiconductors, which we still use today.

Similarly, todays quantum quest involves evaluating different potential platforms to produce what the industry commonly calls a fault-tolerant quantum computer quantum computers that are able to perform reliable operations despite the presence of errors in their hardware.

Tech giants, including Google and IBM, are adapting superconductors materials that have zero resistance to electrical current to build their quantum computers, claiming that they might be able to build a reasonably large quantum computer by 2030. Other companies and startups dedicated to quantum computing, such as QuEra, PsiQuantum and Alice & Bob, are experimenting with other platforms and even occasionally declaring that they might be able to build one before 2030.

Until the so-called fault-tolerant quantum computer is built, the industry needs to go through an era commonly referred to as the Noisy Intermedia-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era. NISQ quantum devices contain a few hundred quantum bits (qubits) and are typically prone to errors due to various quantum phenomena.

NISQ devices serve as early prototypes of fault-tolerant quantum computers and showcase their potential. However, they are not expected to clearly demonstrate practical advantages, such as solving large scale optimization problems or simulating sufficiently complex chemical molecules.

Researchers attribute the difficulty of building such devices to the significant amount of errors (or noise) NISQ devices suffer from. Nevertheless, this is not surprising. The basic computational units of quantum computers, the qubits, are highly sensitive quantum particles easily influenced by their environment. This is why one way to build a quantum computer is to cool these machines to near zero kelvin a temperature colder than outer space. This reduces the interaction between qubits and the surrounding environment, thus producing less noise.

Another approach is to accept that such levels of noise are inevitable and instead focus on mitigating, suppressing or correcting any errors produced by such noise. This constitutes a substantial area of research that must advance significantly if we are to facilitate the construction of fault-tolerant quantum computers.

As the construction of quantum devices progresses, research advances rapidly to explore potential applications, not just for future fault-tolerant computers, but also possibly for todays NISQ devices. Recent advances show promising results in specialized applications, such as optimization, artificial intelligence and simulation.

Many speculate that the first practical quantum computer may appear in the field of optimization. Theoretical demonstrations have shown that quantum computers will be capable of solving optimization problems more efficiently than classical computers. Performing optimization tasks efficiently could have a profound impact on a broad range of problems. This is especially the case where the search for an optimized solution would usually require an astronomical number of trials.

Examples of such optimization problems are almost countless and can be found in major sectors such as finance (portfolio optimization and credit risk analysis), logistics (route optimization and supply chain optimization) and aviation (flight gate optimization and flight path optimization).

AI is another field in which experts anticipate quantum computers will make significant advances. By leveraging quantum phenomena, such as superposition, entanglement and interference which have no counterparts in classical computing quantum computers may offer advantages in training and optimizing machine learning models.

However, we still do not have concrete evidence supporting such claimed advantages as this would necessitate larger quantum devices, which we do not have today. That said, early indications of these potential advantages are rapidly emerging within the research community.

Simulating quantum systems was the original application that motivated the idea of building quantum computers. Efficient simulations will likely drastically impact many essential applications, such as material science (finding new material with superior properties, like for better batteries) and drug discovery (development of new drugs by more accurately simulating quantum interactions between molecules).

Unfortunately, with the current NISQ devices, only simple molecules can be simulated. More complex molecules will need to wait for the advent of large fault-tolerant computers.

There is uncertainty surrounding the timeline and applications of quantum computers, but we should remember that the killer application for classical computers was not even remotely envisioned by their inventors. A killer application is the single application that contributed the most to the widespread use of a certain technology. For classical computers, the killer application, surprisingly, turned out to be spreadsheets.

For quantum computers, speculation often centers around simulation and optimization being the potential killer applications of this technology, but a definite winner is still far from certain. In fact, the quantum killer application may be something entirely unknown to us at this time and it may even arise from completely uncharted territories.

[Will Sherriff edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

Excerpt from:

Quantum Computing Could be the Next Revolution - Fair Observer

Horizon Quantum Computing, a Singapore-based quantum software start-up, announced today it would build its own testbed of quantum computers, starting with use of Rigettis Novera 9-qubit QPU. The approach by a quantum software specialist to build-its-own testbed is new. The idea is to be able to develop and integrate its software stack Triple Alpha more thoroughly into various types of quantum computers.

Founded in 2018, Horizons broad strategy is to develop tools that will take software developed using current programming languages and translate that code into quantum algorithms and specific device codes across multiple quantum qubit modalities. The Novera QPU is a superconducting qubit, but Horizons plans call for integrating other qubit modalities into its testbed.

In interview with HPCwire, Horizon CEO and founder, Joe Fitzsimons, said We have been pursuing an ambitious plan to bridge the gap between conventional software engineering and quantum computing through the automation of quantum algorithm construction. Our goal is to enable software engineers and domain experts in fields that make significant use of high performance computing to develop code using familiar programming languages and automatically accelerate these programs using quantum processing. We have already been able to demonstrate automated construction of quantum algorithms from programs written in a subset of the Matlab language, and we expect to integrate such functionality into our development tools over time.

The testbed, which will be set up at Horizons Singapore headquarters, will have the capacity to host multiple quantum computers. In addition to using Rigettis Novera 9-qubit QPU, Horizon will also use Quantum Machiness OPX1000, the processor-based quantum controller. This first integrated system is expected to be installed by early 2025.

Horizon reported in the official release, By acquiring its own hardware, Horizon gains full control over both hardware and software stacks, allowing it to push the frontiers of quantum computing. A key aspect of Horizons quantum computing testbed is its modular multi-vendor approach. Rather than utilizing a single-vendor solution, the company has purposely selected best-in-class components from different providers. This modularity allows Horizon to integrate its software stack with different hardware configurations and upgrade the system over time.

Asked why isnt everyone doing this?

Fitzsimons said, The answer is partly that the timing hasnt been right until now. As we get closer to seeing practical error-corrected quantum computation, the timeline to useful quantum computation is accelerating. While we may well be the first quantum software company to make such a move, I doubt very much that we will be the last.

Its interesting to note the international flavor of the supply chain here. Rigetti, of course, is a U.S.-based quantum computing pioneer. Quantum Machines, founded in 2018, is an Israel-based startup specializing in quantum control systems. Horizon is one of many young and ambitious Asia-PAC based quantum companies. It completed series A funding round ($18 million) roughly a year ago. The global nature of the quantum computing supply chain has basically become a reality.

Like most quantum start-up CEOs, Fitzsimons background is in the science. His Ph.D. (Oxford) is in quantum computing architectures. In 2018 he held a tenured position as an associate professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where he led the Quantum Information and Theory group. He was also a principal investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT), which was established in December 2007 by Singapores National Research Foundation and Ministry of Education, and is hosted by the National University of Singapore.

Fitzsimons told HPCwire, We will be building the system from components ourselves, and expect to have the system operational in early 2025. We will be integrating the system with our software development tools, which enable far more complex programs than many existing quantum programming frameworks since they enable non-trivial flow control and concurrent classical and quantum computation. We expect to open the system up to users of our tools once the integration is complete.

He declined to say which modalities will be brought into its testbed next, We have been very conscious of the significant progress across a number of modalities in the past twelve months. As we get closer to useful quantum computation, we want to ensure that we build up the experience of integrating with, and potentially operating, quantum computers based on the most promising modalities. We will be closely monitoring progress across the field, but will only be making a decision on further systems after the first quantum computer is operational.

On the whole, the Horizon gambit is interesting. It will be interesting to watch the extent to which future systems are brought as components or complete systems. Quantum Machines, on its website, lists several modalities that its control systems can work with, including superconducting, optically addressable (e.g. NV diamonds), quantum dots, and neutral atoms. The move is also interesting for Rigetti, which just entered the merchant QPU market back in December the Novera kit list price then was $900,000.

Included in the official announcement were quotes from Rigetti and Quantum Machines:

Asked about collaborations and working with other AsiaPAC companies, Fitzsimons said, Our main focus is on working with hardware partners, and to date these have been based in North America and Europe. The focus is on pushing forward towards useful quantum computing, and working with other companies that share that goal. We have access to quite a number of systems both through the major cloud providers and through direct access with hardware companies, and have integrated many of these into our tool chain so that users can not only develop quantum programs, but also deploy these programs as APIs which execute jobs on both hardware and simulator backends.

Fitzsimons seems a realist in terms of challenges ahead and uncertainty around the timeline to deliver quantum advantage.

The biggest challenges for any quantum computing company are correctly pacing resource utilization pre-quantum advantage and the limited pool of scientists with significant experience in the field, he said.

One the timing to quantum payoff, he added, I have never been a big believer in the likelihood of really useful quantum computing emerging from variational algorithms used on NISQ machines. Over the past 18 months, however, there has been tremendous progress in error correction and fault-tolerance, and we are seeing an increasing number of experiments exceed breakeven error correction. Over the next three years, I would expect to see significant progress towards the low noise regime.

Stay tuned.

Link to announcement, https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/horizon-quantum-computing-to-pioneer-multi-vendor-quantum-hardware-testbed/

Excerpt from:

Software Specialist Horizon Quantum to Build First-of-a-Kind Hardware Testbed - HPCwire

For the first time in the history of the Shenandoah Apple Bossom Festival three consecutive generations in a family will have served as Queen Shenandoah. Susan Ford Bales, Queen in 1975, and Tyne Vance Berlanga, Queen in 2001, will be accompanying Joy Elizabeth Berlanga as she assumes her role as Queen Shenandoah XCVII.

The Crowning Ceremony entertains from regal pomp and circumstance to joyful enthusiasm of Little Maids and Pages who are ever present to serve their Queen. The youthful court interchange historical and educational facts from the British Crown to learning about a United States President to asking, Who has the Crown?, and with dancing. The Queen will be crowned at the memorable Coronation celebration under the direction of Elaine B. Aikens. The Ceremony to install the new sovereign is sponsored by Morgan Orthodontics, on Friday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m.at Handley High School. President Gerald Ford crowned Susan. Susan crowned Tyne, and Joy will be crowned by her mother and escorted by her grandmother.

Susan, Joys grandmother, is a Virginia native and now resides in Texas. She is the daughter of President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford. Susan is the mother of two daughters, Tyne Berlanga and Heather Deavers, five grandchildren, Joy Elizabeth Berlanga, Cruz Vance Berlanga, Elizabeth Blanch Deavers, Jude Deavers, and Sullivan Bales, and three stepsons, Kevin, Matthew, and Andrew Bales.

Susan was raised in Alexandria, Virginia and attended Holton Arms School and the University of Kansas, where she studied photojournalism. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service degree, an Honorary Doctorate of Letters degree, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree. She is the author of two novels set in the Whie House, Double Exposure: A First Daughter Mystery, and its sequel, Sharp Focus.

Susan is the Ships Sponsor for the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), which she officially christened on November 9, 2013. On April 8, 2016, in recognition of her service as the Ships Sponsor, she was named an Honorary Naval Aviator by the United States Navy, becoming only the 31st American to receive this distinction. And history was made with her selection Susan is the first woman to be chosen as an Honorary Naval Aviator.

During her high school years, Susan lived in the White House and served as official White House hostess following her mothers surgery for breast cancer in 1974. In 1984, she and her mother helped launch National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Susan subsequently served as national spokesperson for breast cancer awareness. Since the founding of the Betty Ford Center in 1982, Susan worked side by side with her mother on projects at the Center and was elected to the Centers Board of Directors in 1992. She succeeded her mother as Chairman of the Board 2005-2010, and currently serves on the board of directors of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

In addition to her many charitable public service activities, Susan serves as Co-Trustee of the President Gerald R. Ford Historical Legacy, Trustee, Trustee of the Elizabeth B. Ford Charitable Trust, and the Honorary Advisory Committee of the Childrens National Medical Center.

Tyne, mother of Joy, Queen-designate, resides in Frisco, TX with her husband Hector and two children, Joy and Cruz. She serves as a marketing manager for Western Son. With a passion for community involvement, Tyne sits on multiple school booster club boards for all her childrens activities.

On Tynes departure as Queen she reflected, It was easy to be kind, gracious and humble Queen when surrounded by the people of Winchester. My five-day reign as Queen Shenandoah was an occasion that will have a special place in my heart. I have formed friendships and made memories that will hopefully stay with me for a long time to come. On Sunday morning I was doing an exit interview with one of the reporters and he asked me, If l had a daughter would I let her be Queen? My answer was immediately Yes, if shes lucky enough to be given this opportunity. Now, Tyne eagerly anticipates returning to Winchester where Joy is set to embark on a remarkable journey, echoing Tynes own experiences from 23 years prior. Its truly heartwarming to be able to share this moment with both her mother and daughter.

The Queen and her family will ride in the Hang 10 Firefighters Parade Friday evening at 5:30 and the glo fiber Grand Feature Parade on Saturday, May 4 at 1:30 p.m. Queen-designate Joy and her family will be making appearances at Festival events during the weekend.

Tickets to Festival events are available at http://www.thebloom.com/events.

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Illuminating Futures: Celebrating Achievements and Exploring Quantum Computing at This is IT! Event - Royal Examiner

A paper released during the SIGBOVIK 2024 conference details an attempt to simulate the IBM quantum utility experiment on a Commodore 64. The idea might seem preposterous - pitting a 40-year-old home computer against a device powered by 127-Qubit Eagle quantum processing unit (QPU). However, the anonymous researcher(s) conclude that the Qommodore 64 performed faster, and more efficiently, than IBMs pride-and-joy, while being decently accurate on this problem.

At the beginning of the paper, the researchers admit that their Qommodore 64 project is a joke, but, sadly for IBM, its proof of quantum utility was also built upon shaky foundations, and the Qommodore 64 team came up with some convincing-looking benchmarks. There was some controversy about IBMs claims at the time, and we are reminded it took just five days for the quantum experiment to be simulated on an ordinary MacBook M1 Pro laptop. The jokey Quantum Disadvantage paper (PDF link, headlining section starts at page 199) ports this experiment to a machine packing the far more humble MOS Technology 6510 processor.

Image 1 of 3

To get deep into the weeds with the quantum theory and math behind the quantum utility experiment, please follow the above PDF link. However, to summarize, the C64-based experiment uses the sparse Pauli dynamics technique developed by Begui, Hejazi, and Chan to approximate the behavior of ferromagnetic materials. Famously, IBM claimed such calculations were too difficult to perform on a classical computer to an acceptable accuracy, using the leading approximation techniques, recalls the paper. Not quite, and as already mentioned above, an ordinary laptop can obtain similar results.

The anonymous C64 user(s) provide some interesting details of their quantum-defeating feat. Their aggressively truncated and shallow depth-first search model used just 15kB of the spacious 64kB available on the iconic Commodore machine. Meanwhile, the final code consisted of about 2,500 lines of 6502 assembly, stored on a cartridge that fitted in the C64s expansion port. This code was handled by the mighty 1 MHz 8-bit MOS 6510 CPU. The C64 took approx 4 minutes per data point. (Testing the same code on a modern laptop achieved roughly 800s per data point.)

In conclusion, the researcher(s) asserts that the Qommodore 64 is faster than the quantum device datapoint-for-datapoint it is much more energy efficient and it is decently accurate on this problem. On the topic of how applicable this research is to other quantum problems, it is snarkily suggested that it probably wont work on almost any other problem (but then again, neither do quantum computers right now). Overall, it is difficult to know whether the results are entirely genuine, though a lot of detail is provided and the linked research references in the paper seem genuine.

We know many readers are retro computing enthusiasts, as well as DIYers and makers. So it is good to know that the author(s) of this paper say that they will provide source code to allow others to replicate their results. However, source code will only be supplied in one of three formats, they say: a copy handwritten on papyrus, a slide-show of blurry screenshots recorded on a VHS tape, or that I dictate it to you personally over the phone. So please add an extra pinch of salt to this story for that.

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Commodore 64 claimed to outperform IBM's quantum system sarcastic researchers say 1 MHz computer is faster ... - Tom's Hardware

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Horizon Quantum Computing to Establish First-of-a-Kind Hardware Testbed - The Bakersfield Californian

In an article recently published in the journal Astronomy and Computing, researchers investigated the feasibility of emerging quantum computers for applications in radio astronomy, specifically radio astronomy calibration.

Large-scale radio telescopes are expected to outgrow the computational capacities of conventional digital resources in the near future. Current and planned telescopes struggle to process the vast amounts of data they generate efficiently.

Calibrating large-scale radio telescopes, particularly phased array telescopes, presents a significant computational challenge. For example, calibrating an 8-hour LOFAR two-meter sky survey (LoTSS) observation consumes approximately 52,000 core hours. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop methods that can efficiently reduce this computational demand and minimize energy consumption.

One class of calibration leverages the inherent redundancy in regular arrays to self-calibrate the array with statistical efficiency. This study delves into the quantum-accelerated variant of this calibration method, drawn by its practical relevance and straightforward structure. Moreover, redundancy calibration primarily involves solving sets of linear equations, a task for which effective quantum algorithms are currently available.

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) exemplifies a radio telescope employing an exceedingly regular array configuration. Comprising multiple antennas arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern, HERA exhibits significant redundancy between baselines, rendering it well-suited for redundancy calibration.

In this study, researchers explored the potential application of combinatorial solvers in quantum annealers (QAs) and variational quantum linear solvers (VQLSs) on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers for radio astronomy calibration pipelines. Specifically, two distinct quantum computing approaches were investigated: QAs developed by D-Wave and gate-based quantum computers provided by IBM. Calibration, a computationally intensive task in radio astronomy processing pipelines, involves solving sets of linear equations.

The aim was to demonstrate the effectiveness of these approaches in reducing computational costs when integrated into calibration pipelines. While the Harrow-Hassid-Im-Lloyd (HHL) method offers significant speedup compared to classical methods, it has limitations such as hardware constraints and data input boundaries.

Therefore, a variational approach, known as VQLS, was explored, given its compatibility with current hardware. Variational quantum algorithms have gained attention for their effectiveness in harnessing quantum computing power in the NISQ era, with newer variations proposed to address limitations. Many studies have successfully applied this method to solve finite-element problems.

QAs present a viable alternative to gate-based quantum computers and have been extensively evaluated for real-world applications, including power grid management and structural biology studies. D-Wave QAs, accessible via cloud services and boasting over 2,000 qubits, have been utilized for various tasks, including solving linear systems and floating-point calculations.

They were also used in fundamental studies in structural biology and acoustics. These studies employed D-Wave QAs accessible through the cloud and containing over 2,000 qubits. In addition to binary problems, QAs are also suitable for solving linear systems and floating-point calculations.

The researchers integrated a variational quantum linear solver (VQLS) and quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) solvers into the redundancy calibration pipeline of the HERA telescope using the Hera linsolve package's dedicated fork.

This seamless integration of quantum solvers within the software suite facilitated the transition between quantum and classical resources for calibration. Experiments were conducted in both ideal and realistic settings, considering factors such as noise, coherence time, and qubit connectivity.

Results were compared based on accuracy, with the VQLS solver employing a full qubit correlation and a real-amplitude variational ansatz, while the QUBO solver used 11 qubits to encode floating-point numbers of the solution vector. However, the study also acknowledged significant limitations of current quantum computers, such as limited connectivity graphs for qubits in QAs like D-Wave chips.

The results of the study demonstrated that quantum linear solvers showed promise as a viable tool for obtaining initial estimates of antennas' gains in ideal conditions, where quantum hardware was not constrained by coherence time or qubit connectivity. However, in realistic settings, limitations on coherence time and qubit connectivity significantly hindered the performance of these solvers.

While the variational method implemented on gate-based quantum computers required a relatively small number of qubits for large arrays, it necessitated an exceptionally efficient matrix decomposition scheme to rival classical approaches. Without such a scheme, the computational cost became prohibitive.

Similarly, the combinatorial approach relying on QAs produced highly accurate results but demanded a significant number of physical qubits to overcome limited inter-qubit connectivity on real devices. As a result, existing QAs could only handle small antenna arrays, where classical methods remained competitive.

Overall, the study found no definitive quantum advantage for radio astronomy calibration using current hardware. This underscores the need for further research to develop new quantum solvers with improved performance and hardware that imposes fewer limitations, thereby realizing the computational advantages promised by quantum computing.

Renaud, N., Rodrguez-Snchez, P., Hidding, J., Broekema, P. C. (2024). Quantum radio astronomy: Quantum linear solvers for redundant baseline calibration. Astronomy and Computing, 47, 100803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ascom.2024.100803, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213133724000180

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

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Quantum Linear Solvers for Redundant Baseline Calibration - AZoQuantum

Federal cybersecurity officials are preparing for a quantum computing surprise that requires the largest change in encryption ever to safeguard Americans data from foreign hackers.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agencys Garfield Jones said Tuesday that the emergence of a cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer will upend digital security in unprecedented ways and that people need to prepare immediately.

Such a device, dubbed CRQC, would be capable of breaking encryption to expose government secrets and peoples personal information to anyone who uses the machine, according to cyber officials.

Nations will rush to develop the tech and keep it hidden from public view in order to steal their enemies data while upending information security in the process, according to Mr. Jones, CISA associate chief of strategic technology.

When it drops, its not going to be, I dont think its going to be a slow drop, Mr. Jones told cyber officials assembled at the U.S. General Services Administration. I think once someone gets this CRQC, none of us will know.

Quantum computers promise speeds and efficiency that todays fastest supercomputers cannot match, according to the National Science Foundation. Classical computers have more commercial value now because quantum computers have not yet proven capable of correcting errors involving encoded data.

A cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer, the CRQC, will be capable of correcting errors, according to Mr. Jones, and perform tasks that other computers cannot approach.

Preparations for defense against such technology are underway across the federal government.

Art Fuller, who is leading the Justice Departments post-quantum cryptography efforts, said developing secure systems presents a huge challenge that cannot be solved by flipping a switch.

This is the largest cryptographic migration in history, Mr. Fuller told officials at Tuesdays event.

Estimates on the timing of the creation of such a quantum computer vary, but Mr. Jones said large-scale quantum computers remain in the early stages of research and development and could still be a ways off.

Regardless, Mr. Jones cautioned digital defenders against delaying preparation for the arrival of such technology.

He described the environment surrounding the development of the CRQC as almost very close to a nuclear weapon, with nations competing to obtain the machine and keep it top secret.

You never know, three years from now, you might have a CRQC but I think planning and getting that preparation in place will help you protect that data, Mr. Jones said.

The National Security Agency similarly fears the arrival of a CRQC in the hands of Americas enemies.

NSA Director of Research Gil Herrera said last month that teams around the world are building with different technologies and could develop something representing a black swan event, an extremely unexpected occurrence with harsh consequences.

If this black swan event happens, then were really screwed, Mr. Herrera said, citing potential damage to everything from financial transactions to sensitive communications for nuclear weapons.

Mr. Herrera did not forecast precisely when a nation could develop such a device in remarks at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance event but indicated it may take a long time to achieve.

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'Almost very close' to nuclear weapon: Federal cyber officials brace for quantum computing surprise - Washington Times