dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA quantum computer only needs one universe
| Authors | A. M. Steane |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0003084 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0003084 |
| DOI | 10.1016/S1355-2198(03)00038-8 |
| Journal | Studies in History and Philosophy of Science B - Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34(3):469-478 (2003) |
Abstract
The nature of quantum computation is discussed. It is argued that, in terms of the amount of information manipulated in a given time, quantum and classical computation are equally efficient. Quantum superposition does not permit quantum computers to ``perform many computations simultaneously'' except in a highly qualified and to some extent misleading sense. Quantum computation is therefore not well described by interpretations of quantum mechanics which invoke the concept of vast numbers of parallel universes. Rather, entanglement makes available types of computation process which, while not exponentially larger than classical ones, are unavailable to classical systems. The essence of quantum computation is that it uses entanglement to generate and manipulate a physical representation of the correlations between logical entities, without the need to completely represent the logical entities themselves.
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"abstract": "The nature of quantum computation is discussed. It is argued that, in terms\nof the amount of information manipulated in a given time, quantum and classical\ncomputation are equally efficient. Quantum superposition does not permit\nquantum computers to ``perform many computations simultaneously\u0027\u0027 except in a\nhighly qualified and to some extent misleading sense. Quantum computation is\ntherefore not well described by interpretations of quantum mechanics which\ninvoke the concept of vast numbers of parallel universes. Rather, entanglement\nmakes available types of computation process which, while not exponentially\nlarger than classical ones, are unavailable to classical systems. The essence\nof quantum computation is that it uses entanglement to generate and manipulate\na physical representation of the correlations between logical entities, without\nthe need to completely represent the logical entities themselves.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0003084",
"authors": [
"A. M. Steane"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1016/S1355-2198(03)00038-8",
"journal_ref": "Studies in History and Philosophy of Science B - Studies in\n History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34(3):469-478 (2003)",
"title": "A quantum computer only needs one universe",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0003084"
},
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