What are quantum computers? Do they yet exist?

Question

Are there any useful real world examples of these?

Answer 1

I can't fully understand how they works, but quantum computers are using qubits instead of bits, what means they can have states between 0 and 1, not only 0 or 1, so it lets calculate something that standard PC cannot (that's how I understand that, but I'm not good at physics).
Quantum computers already exist. IBM, at the beginning of the 2018 released 50-qubit computer.

Answer 2

Try the article here, it explains it well:
https://www.sololearn.com/post/32573/?ref=app

Answer 3

Thanks Harold Ulrich and everyone. This is very interesting and beyond the understanding of most of us mere mortals. I will probably need to understand what is the definition of "observing" a quantum particle and how such a particle knows that we are looking at it 😁. To me it sounds like it is related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Answer 4

microsoft even has a programming language and azure to test the quantum program. The language is called Q# look it up guys

Answer 5

A quantum computer is built from qubits. Unlike a normal computer that is built out of bits (binary transistors), a qubit can hold two different states simultaneously, and is built out of atomic particles at low temperatures. This is possible based on quantum mechanics and the "spins" of atomic particles. However, when we "observe" the state of a qubit, it collapses into a normal number. But when we are not observing it, it can hold two different values at the same time! To learn more, research the double slit experiment with electrons.
Quantum computers do exist already in university labs like Stanford in California. However, last time I checked it only had 10 qubits in the entire machine, and it occupied the entire room. These computers have such amazing speed that the prime factorization problem banks and credit cards use to encrypt data can be solved in less than a minute! There is also an emerging field of quantum algorithms, to find a new way to encrypt data that a quantum computer cannot hack.

Answer 6

There are many free lesson videos and books for sale that cover this topic. Quantum mechanics is very strange. But it is well accepted by scientists that when we are not "observing" a quantum particle, it has multiple values simulataneosy. However, when we measure it or look at it, it only has one state. Likewise, electrons can be shown to exist in multiple spacial locations when we do not observe them, yet they exist in one location when we observe them. The simple act of looking at quantum particles changes their behavior. This is mind boggling, yet we can use this property to hold multiple values simultaneously in a computer (as opposed to binary 0s and 1s) and increase computation speed enormously.

Answer 7

Check out IBM Q Experience, where you can experiment, can search online for it.

Answer 8

Try this youtube video. It's very nicely animated and very clearly explained. It is made in a way to explain the topic to dummies.
https://youtu.be/JhHMJCUmq28

Answer 9

as engineers this is a great development in our field and i think we all should try to look into and understand this concept

Answer 10

yes they do exist they are not really for speed but are for encryption at faster speefs

Answer 11

I was told the quantum computer knows the answer to everything until you ask it a question

Answer 12

https://youtu.be/fwXQjRBLwsQ
This video should help. It boils down to the wave - particle duality of matter. This is a subject in physics and chemistry. But I once had a professor who explained to me that an electron is in reality a 3 dimensional wave. We can visualize a 1 dimensional wave as a sine or cosine, and we can visualize a 2 dimensional wave as a waving surface. But our senses cannot visualize a 3 dimensional wave. The unknown thing is why does an electron act like a wave when we do not look, and it acts like a particle when we look.

Answer 13

Quantum atom makes changing states of 2^500 (2 power of 500) times simultaneously.
A working quantum computer can execute 2^500 programming instructions in parallel processing.

So any useful works for a computer that could run astronomical numbers of processing in a split seconds?

Answer 14

yes they do but according to my understanding they arent practically useful yet but the theory is that they use qubits which are superpoled which means they have two values ,a '1' and a'0" instead of a single value like in normal transistors. These qubits when measured then default to one particular value either a '1' or a '0'. These qubits are also very çlosely related which means that if you measure one of them you can then deduce the values of the other ones around them.

Answer 15

one of the most practical uses for running a program at astrological speeds is an algorithm that can find the two prime numbers used as factors in the RSA algorithm, which requires that finding the 2 prime factors of a massive number to be exponentially hard (usually takes weeks to months for a normal PC to crack)

Answer 16

This is really interesting guys... so it might e able to compile the data structure in DNA

Answer 17

These machines have superceded Ohms law. 2 separate cubits are used for entanglement which has recently developed an accurate biological model in a virtual environment. They will eventually determine the meaning and creation of all life. Quantum mechanics is God basically.