Researchers Develop Quantum Processor.

[techs]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060113/bs_nf/40876
A computer chip based on the esoteric science of quantum mechanics has been created by researchers at the University of Michigan. The chip might well pave the way for a new generation of supercomputers.

Employing the same semiconductor-fabrication techniques used to create common computer chips, the Michigan team was able to trap a single atom within an integrated chip and control it using electrical signals.

"With quantum mechanics, an object can be in two places at the same time, as long as you don't look at it," he said. The quantum computer architecture can store quantum bits (qubits) of information, where each qubit can hold the numbers one or zero, or even both digits simultaneously.

Alright, I think I have a good understanding of Relativity but this Quantum Mechanics idea that an object can be in two places at the same time until I look at it is so far out there my mind boggles.

 

[1EZduzit]

LOL, sounds like it would be hell to troubleshoot.

 

[AragornTK]

Now you see it, now you still see, now you don't see it, because it's here AND there

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: techs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060113/bs_nf/40876
A computer chip based on the esoteric science of quantum mechanics has been created by researchers at the University of Michigan. The chip might well pave the way for a new generation of supercomputers.

Employing the same semiconductor-fabrication techniques used to create common computer chips, the Michigan team was able to trap a single atom within an integrated chip and control it using electrical signals.

"With quantum mechanics, an object can be in two places at the same time, as long as you don't look at it," he said. The quantum computer architecture can store quantum bits (qubits) of information, where each qubit can hold the numbers one or zero, or even both digits simultaneously.

Alright, I think I have a good understanding of Relativity but this Quantum Mechanics idea that an object can be in two places at the same time until I look at it is so far out there my mind boggles.

It is supposed to boggle, isn't it?

But such a computer has only a limited applicability in that it of a kind that only finds correct solutions. The questions it answers, therefore, have to be asked with care.

The process by which the qubits in an ambiguous state are resolved into zeros or one is called quantum decoherence. If the quantum computer could test every possible combination for the qubits. A computer with 1000 qubits could test 2 to the thousandth power of possible solutions simultaneously. One application for such a machine would be in factoring numbers above 512 bits, not easily done on ordinary computers. They would be very suited to breaking encryption which is based on large prime numbers.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: techs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060113/bs_nf/40876
A computer chip based on the esoteric science of quantum mechanics has been created by researchers at the University of Michigan. The chip might well pave the way for a new generation of supercomputers.

Employing the same semiconductor-fabrication techniques used to create common computer chips, the Michigan team was able to trap a single atom within an integrated chip and control it using electrical signals.

"With quantum mechanics, an object can be in two places at the same time, as long as you don't look at it," he said. The quantum computer architecture can store quantum bits (qubits) of information, where each qubit can hold the numbers one or zero, or even both digits simultaneously.

Alright, I think I have a good understanding of Relativity but this Quantum Mechanics idea that an object can be in two places at the same time until I look at it is so far out there my mind boggles.

It is supposed to boggle, isn't it?

But such a computer has only a limited applicability in that it of a kind that only finds correct solutions. The questions it answers, therefore, have to be asked with care.

The process by which the qubits in an ambiguous state are resolved into zeros or one is called quantum decoherence. If the quantum computer could test every possible combination for the qubits. A computer with 1000 qubits could test 2 to the thousandth power of possible solutions simultaneously. One application for such a machine would be in factoring numbers above 512 bits, not easily done on ordinary computers. They would be very suited to breaking encryption which is based on large prime numbers.

Exactly, it is the ultimate combination tester :thumbsup:

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: techs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060113/bs_nf/40876
A computer chip based on the esoteric science of quantum mechanics has been created by researchers at the University of Michigan. The chip might well pave the way for a new generation of supercomputers.

Employing the same semiconductor-fabrication techniques used to create common computer chips, the Michigan team was able to trap a single atom within an integrated chip and control it using electrical signals.

"With quantum mechanics, an object can be in two places at the same time, as long as you don't look at it," he said. The quantum computer architecture can store quantum bits (qubits) of information, where each qubit can hold the numbers one or zero, or even both digits simultaneously.

Alright, I think I have a good understanding of Relativity but this Quantum Mechanics idea that an object can be in two places at the same time until I look at it is so far out there my mind boggles.

What a great justification for a sh!tty result.

"It's not there right now because you're looking at it."

I gotta remember that while I'm presenting my data...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: techs

Alright, I think I have a good understanding of Relativity but this Quantum Mechanics idea that an object can be in two places at the same time until I look at it is so far out there my mind boggles.

heisenberg uncertainty principle. if you know how fast it's going you don't know where it is, and if you know where it is you don't know how fast it's going. observation by itself changes the state of a quantum particle.

it's also why, when matter slows down to near absolute 0, it becomes a wave (you know how fast it's going, so you can't know where it is)

 

[bamacre]

This thread makes me feel retarded.

 

[feelingshorter]

Originally posted by: bamacre
This thread makes me feel retarded.

seriously

 

[fierydemise]

Quantum Mechanics is really strange stuff, Schrödinger's cat is a great thought experiment to help understand it (although that wasn't its intended purpose its still a great thought experiment for explaining the basics principles Quantum Mechanics).

 

[judasmachine]

Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

Correct

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

Correct

Correct what, that his head just exploded? You mean if you don't answer it didn't and it did?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

Correct

Correct what, that his head just exploded? You mean if you don't answer it didn't and it did?

Yes

 

[RichardE]

Just think of it as infinite possibilities until you observer it, once you observe it, it collapses into one state. Some theories suggest the state you chose. This thread really should be in HT for all of us to explain this a little better, or I think we have a few threads on this explaining ths theory and theories revolving around this a little better.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

it's not really that you look, it's that photons hit it or are produced by it and change its quantum state, iirc.

 

[1EZduzit]

Apparently quantum mechanics is like conservsative compassion, it's everyplace until you try to see it.

 

[Meuge]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

it's not really that you look, it's that photons hit it or are produced by it and change its quantum state, iirc.

No it really is whether you look or not. Everything exists in a state of quantum flux unless the probability wave is collapsed to a single possibility by a sentient observer.

 

[Polish3d]

Incredible stuff...

 

[Mardeth]

What if something like an animal see the cat in the box? Does it collapse then?

 

[ericlp]

if a bit falls in a forrest will it make a sound? I guess as long as you weren't listening to it.

"This type of integrated chip structure is significant because it demonstrates a way to scale the quantum computer to bigger systems," Monroe said. "It has applications for processing very large [data sets] such as in cryptography, for example, and there is a lot of interest in this by the government."

I wonder if Bush will fund this?

Could you imagine what a hacker would do with a computer like this?

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Mardeth
What if something like an animal see the cat in the box? Does it collapse then?

Or how about being videotaped?


Does it collapse then?

 

[Meuge]

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: Mardeth
What if something like an animal see the cat in the box? Does it collapse then?

Or how about being videotaped?


Does it collapse then?

Well, it depends whether a cat is a "sentient observer", which is a question I cannot answer.

With regards to the videotape, I believe that you're misunderstanding the point. If the videotape is viewed later, the probability wave is still collapsed by the viewer. Since time is a dimension just like distance, viewing the videotape later is akin to looking at something far away with a telescope.

If the tape is never viewed, then it's equivalent to no one having witnessed the event.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Schrodinger's Cat

It's dead and alive, as long as you don't look in the box.

fierydemise beat me to it.

I think my head just exploded. So if I don't look it both did and didn't?
Yikes.

I can't take the suspense. I am going to look. Hey, my hea....