3. Warning!
• Quantum Mechanics is hard/weird/unintuitive!
• “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”
(Richard Feynman)
• “Physics is really figuring out how to discover new things that are
counterintuitive, like quantum mechanics. It's really counterintuitive.”
(Elon Musk)
• “Quantum physics is a bit of a passion of mine. It's extraordinary. There's a
branch of mathematics that is based on lunacy, and that's wonderful.” (Bob
Hoskins)
• “OMGWTFBBQSAUCE!!!!”
(Tony Tran)
10. So what is it good for?
• Cyber Security
Most cryptographic protocols rely on integer factorization,
e.g., RSA-based public keys
Relies on integer factorization being difficult
No known classical algorithm that has polynomial complexity
(not easy)
• Shor’s Algorithm (Quantum)
Finds prime factors for numbers in polynomial time (easy)
• A whole field of quantum cryptography exists!
11. Current State of
Quantum Computing
• No general quantum computer currently exists with a
practical number of qubits (~10 qubits)
D-Wave: Quantum Annealer
1152 qubits (actually less)
Anneal time: 20 microseconds
15 millikelvin (colder than space)
12. Quantum Annealing
• Slowly let the system evolve over time so that it can search solutions
Adiabatic Quantum Computation
13. What do I do?
• Hybrid Quantum-Classical computing algorithms
Mars Lander Task Scheduling Satellite Resource Management
14. Come talk with me
after if you want to
get into more details!
Tony T. Tran