2 ms·

It's a record for a fundamental piece of their hardware. Overall is a bit meh since the only real hard problem that hasn't been solved in QC is noise becoming

It's a record for a fundamental piece of their hardware. Overall is a bit meh since the only real hard problem that hasn't been solved in QC is noise becoming the dominant effect as you grow the number of qubits involved (at an exponential rate). So it's "nice, but does it scale?". They claim a 150-qubit system coming soon. That would be a significant breakthrough, but that statement is also the "full self driving this year" equivalent of quantum world.

adrianN 2y ago
The last time I checked (several years ago) another hard problem was that many of the widgets you need per qbit were macroscopic and difficult to miniaturize, ie. we were, if not in the difference engine era, then at best in the vacuum tube era of quantum circuit construction.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  Yeah, I can vouch for that as well, the miniaturization challenges can be solved, after all there's chips now with a 2nm pitch which is crazy. But some problems in that context have a hard physical limit, some serious researchers have proposed that it would not be feasible at all, that the effect of errors could not be mitigated and it's a dead end. I wish I could provide concrete examples but I am not an expert and have only heard about this from friends who work on it.
  - vitus 2y ago
    IIRC, the most serious skeptic who believes that real quantum computers are never going to be realized because of the noise wall is Gil Kalai. Look into his writings, or Scott Aaronson's arguments with him, or whatever. I am a lot less optimistic about QC than I was 15 years ago before I really started learning about this stuff, but I'm not willing to completely rule it out. Do I think there's a plausible roadmap to a general-purpose implementation of Shor's algorithm at a scale that can break RSA-2048? Not any time in the next 30 years. But sometimes progress takes great leaps forward after many years of stagnation, so I'm still a bit hopeful.
jessriedel 2y ago
I don’t think they’ve set any records (unless you mean personal record). These are pretty standard numbers for the top places, as they discuss
- moralestapia 2y ago
  Well, they claim to have set a record. No idea if that's true, though. Please provide sources so we can all learn more.

adrianN 2y ago

The last time I checked (several years ago) another hard problem was that many of the widgets you need per qbit were macroscopic and difficult to miniaturize, ie. we were, if not in the difference engine era, then at best in the vacuum tube era of quantum circuit construction.

moralestapia 2y ago
Yeah, I can vouch for that as well, the miniaturization challenges can be solved, after all there's chips now with a 2nm pitch which is crazy. But some problems in that context have a hard physical limit, some serious researchers have proposed that it would not be feasible at all, that the effect of errors could not be mitigated and it's a dead end. I wish I could provide concrete examples but I am not an expert and have only heard about this from friends who work on it.
- vitus 2y ago
  IIRC, the most serious skeptic who believes that real quantum computers are never going to be realized because of the noise wall is Gil Kalai. Look into his writings, or Scott Aaronson's arguments with him, or whatever. I am a lot less optimistic about QC than I was 15 years ago before I really started learning about this stuff, but I'm not willing to completely rule it out. Do I think there's a plausible roadmap to a general-purpose implementation of Shor's algorithm at a scale that can break RSA-2048? Not any time in the next 30 years. But sometimes progress takes great leaps forward after many years of stagnation, so I'm still a bit hopeful.

jessriedel 2y ago

I don’t think they’ve set any records (unless you mean personal record). These are pretty standard numbers for the top places, as they discuss

moralestapia 2y ago
Well, they claim to have set a record. No idea if that's true, though. Please provide sources so we can all learn more.