Mediaboss Marketing

In our everyday classical computers, 0s and 1s are associated with switches and electronic circuits turning on and off as part of the computer using a binary number system to calculate possibilities and perform operations. For example, when a computer mouse moves, a sensor tells the computer that an electrical signal has been converted into a binary value or number. Further, this number represents a location that is then represented on the computer screen all of which is embodied by the byte that is the building block of current computers. The sensor message to the computer is also saved to memory. Some calculations have too many possibilities for even a traditional computer to calculate like simulating the weather or calculating scrambled combinations of prime numbers.Quantum is the state of things being unknown at the subatomic level until they can be observed and moves from the byte to the qubit. In a quantum computer, it is said that the values assigned to 0 and 1 can occur at the same time. The reason this impossibility is possible is because of quantums subatomic level where protons and electrons are acting in a wild way beyond the rules of nature as we tend to think of them. Picture The Avengers superhero Antman shrinking into the quantum zone where time did not even move in a linear fashion.In computer terms, once the values of 0 and 1 can happen at the same time, it allows the quantum computer to consider trillions of possibilities or more in the same instant, dwarfing the number of calculations that our traditional computers, stuck in binary counting, can do.This process is called superposition. Superposition ends once a specialized particle, or qubit, slows/is observable, thereby emerging from its quantum state. We stick the qubit in an artificial space vacuum so that it does not get observed or interfered with and remains dynamic. Pictures of quantum computers often show tubes the size of a household refrigerator. But most of the tubing is not the central computer processor as much as the process used to maintain the qubits at the absolute zero quantum state.Since around 1977, RSA has been among the most widely used systems for secure data transmission underlying the Internet, serving as the backbone of the NYSE, most large institutions and most individual online users. What is stopping an average person from hacking anyones elses website is that RSA is easy to build, and being based on two pseudo-random prime numbers, hard to burst for traditional computers limited binary system calculation capacity.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Read more from the original source:
Quantum Computing 101 -What it is, how is it different and why it matters - The Jerusalem Post

Jan. 21, 2021 Today, the University of Glasgow, active in quantum technology development and home of the Quantum Circuits Group, announced its using Oxford Instruments next generation Cryofree refrigerator, Proteox, as part of its research to accelerate the commercialisation of quantum computing in the UK.

Were excited to be using Proteox, the latest in cryogen-free refrigeration technology, and to have the system up and running in our lab, comments Professor Martin Weides, Head of the Quantum Circuits Group. Oxford Instruments is a long-term strategic partner and todays announcement highlights the importance of our close collaboration to the future of quantum computing development. Proteox is designed with quantum scale-up in mind, and through the use of its Secondary Insert technology, were able to easily characterise and develop integrated chips and components for quantum computing applications.

The University of Glasgow, its subsidiary and commercialisation partner, Kelvin Nanotechnology, and Oxford Instruments NanoScience are part of a larger consortium supported by funding from Innovate UK, the UKs innovation agency, granted in April 2020. The consortium partners will boost quantum technology development by the design, manufacture, and test of superconducting quantum devices.

Todays announcement demonstrates the major contribution Oxford Instruments is making towards pioneering quantum technology work in the UK, states Stuart Woods, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments NanoScience. With our 60 years of experience of in-house component production and global service support, we are accelerating the commercialisation of quantum to discover whats next supporting our customers across the world.

Proteox is a next-generation Cryofree system that provides a step change in modularity and adaptability for ultra-low temperature experiments in condensed-matter physics and quantum computing industrialisation. The Proteox platform has been developed to provide a single, interchangeable modular solution that can support multiple users and a variety of set-ups or experiments. It also includes remote management software which is integral to the system design, enabling, for example, the system to be managed from anywhere in the world.

Go here to read the rest:
University of Glasgow Partners with Oxford Instruments NanoScience on Quantum Computing - insideHPC

Qiang Li,SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Stony Brook University, is co-author of a paper withJigang Wang,a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energys Ames Laboratory and a professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State University, that is published in Nature Materials about the discovery of a new light-induced switch that twists the crystal lattice of a Weyl semimetal, switching on a giant electron current that appears to be nearly dissipationless. The discovery and control of such properties brings these materials another step closer to use in applications such as quantum computing.

Li, who also holds a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory as leader of the Advanced Energy Materials Group, collaborated on the project with scientists at the U.S. Department of Energys Ames Laboratory, Brookhaven Laboratory and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Pedro Lozano, Lis PhD student, is also involved in the research.

Weyl and Dirac semimetals can host exotic, nearly dissipationless, electron conduction properties that take advantage of the unique state in the crystal lattice and electronic structure of the material that protects the electrons from doing so. These anomalous electron transport channels, protected by symmetry and topology, dont normally occur in conventional metals such as copper. After decades of being described only in the context of theoretical physics, there is growing interest in fabricating, exploring, refining and controlling their topologically protected electronic properties for device applications. For example, wide-scale adoption of quantum computing requires building devices in which fragile quantum states are protected from impurities and noisy environments. One approach to achieve this is through the development of topological quantum computation, in which qubits (quantum bits) are based on symmetry-protected dissipationless electric currents that are immune to noise.

What weve lacked until now is a low energy and fast switch to induce and control symmetry of these materials, said Li. Our discovery of a light symmetry switch opens a fascinating opportunity to carry dissipationless electron current, a topologically protected state that doesnt weaken or slow down when it bumps into imperfections and impurities in the material.

Light-induced lattice twisting, or a phononic switch, can control the crystal inversion symmetry and photogenerate giant electric current with very small resistance, said Wang. This new control principle does not require static electric or magnetic fields and has much faster speeds and lower energy cost.

In this experiment, the team altered the symmetry of the electronic structure of the material using laser pulses to twist the lattice arrangement of the crystal. This light switch enables Weyl points in the material, causing electrons to behave as massless particles that can carry the protected, low dissipation current that is sought after.

Qiang Lis research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science.

See the original post here:
SBU's Qiang Li Collaborated on Discovery That Can Advance Quantum Computing | | SBU News - Stony Brook News

More than four out of five (82 percent) surveyed pharma companies believe quantum computing will impact the industry within the next decade.

Quantum computing is being eyed to accelerate computations in a variety of applications. While many routine computational workloads are well-served by traditional high-performance computing (HPC) systems, quantum computing offers advantages for certain classes of applications. One category that it appears can greatly benefit is pharmaceutical research. Specifically, leading organizations in the field hope to use the technology to accelerate drug discovery and the development of new therapies.

One sign of the growing adoption in the life sciences was anannouncement last week of a collaborative agreement between BoehringerIngelheim and Google Quantum AI (Google). The two will focus on researching andimplementing cutting-edge use cases for quantum computing in pharmaceuticalresearch and development (R&D), specifically molecular dynamicssimulations.

See also: Quantum Computing: Coming to a Platform Near You

The new partnership combines Boehringer Ingelheimsexpertise in the field of computer-aided drug design and in silico modelingwith Googles efforts in quantum computers and algorithms. Boehringer Ingelheimis the first pharmaceutical company worldwide to join forces with Google inquantum computing. The partnership is designed for three years and is co-led bythe newly established Quantum Lab of Boehringer Ingelheim.

In making the announcement, the teams noted that while thetechnology is still new, there are opportunities to make significant advances.Quantum computing is still very much an emerging technology, saidMichaelSchmelmer, Member of the Board of Managing Directors of Boehringer Ingelheimwith responsibility for Finance and Group Functions. However, we are convincedthat this technology could help us to provide even more humans and animals withinnovative and groundbreaking medicines in the future.

The work here is yet another part of wide-ranging Boehringer Ingelheim technology investments in a broad range of digital technologies. Those investments encompass key areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science to better understand diseases, their drivers and biomarkers, and digital therapeutics.

With respect to potential advances using quantum computing,the technology has the potential to accurately simulate and compare much largermolecules than currently possible with traditional (HPC) systems. Extremelyaccurate modeling of molecular systems is widely anticipated as among the mostnatural and potentially transformative applications of quantum computing, saidRyan Babbush, Head of Quantum Algorithms at Google, when the news was announced.

Using the technology in pharmaceutical research will require new compute systems, software, and expertise. As such, adoption is still in its early stages. A survey conducted last year by the Pistoia Alliance, theQuantum Economic Development Consortium(QED-C), andQuPharm found almost one third (31 percent) of life science organizations were set to begin quantum computing evaluation in 2020. A further 39 percent are planning to evaluate this year or have the technology on their radar, while 30 percent have no current plans to evaluate.

The three organizations have established a cross-industry Community of Interest (CoI). The aim is to explore opportunities for the technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of biopharma R&D. The CoI aims to support companies that need help navigating the pathway to quantum computing.

While we are still in the early stages of this newtechnology becoming available, there are great expectations of its importance.That same survey found that more than four out of five respondents (82 percent)believe quantum computing will impact the industry within the next decade.

The rest is here:
Quantum Computing Acceleration of AI in Pharma on the Rise - RTInsights

Two years ago, the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that global emissions must be slashed to net zero by 2050 if we are to avoid the full devastation of climate change. Nearly 120 countries (including Canada) representing 65 per cent of global emissions and more than 70 per cent of the world economy have committed to working on net-zero targets. However, while the goal of these countries is the same, the approach by which to achieve it varies.

Advanced technologies are poised to be game-changers in the battle to overcome climate change. Quantum computing is just one example, as researchers learn more about its potential, including discovering new ways to capture and transform CO2s harmful emissions into usable energy and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Scientists are also working on it to create molecules that replace the chemical catalysts needed for fertilizer production a process which now accounts for up to 3 per cent of the energy used on the planet.

While all computing systems depend on an ability to store and manage information, some of the solutions to challenges we face now such as CO2 reduction may not be achievable using todays computational power. Quantum computers, which leverage quantum mechanical phenomena to perform computations, could solve in mere seconds problems that once might have taken a million years to crack.

Story continues below advertisement

The potential of quantum computing is not lost on government and industry leaders. Research firm Gartner projects that, by 2023, 20 per cent of organizations will have earmarked quantum computing in their budgets, compared with less than one per cent in 2018. This is good news for Canada, a country considered to be a pioneer in quantum science. According to a recent study by McKinsey and Company, our country has been ranked first in the world in quantum computing science, first in the G7 in per-capita spending on research in on the subject, and fifth in the world in total expenditure on quantum science in general. This translates into a $142.4-billion opportunity that could employ 229,000 Canadians by 2040, according to the National Research Council of Canada. This potential demand for a brand-new pool of talent to fill potentially more than a quarter of million jobs means that we need to prepare our workforce now.

While science and math are the foundation of a career in quantum computing, there is no single set of skills that will take you there. Physics, computer science and engineering are all solid competencies, but as quantum is so interdisciplinary, exploring other options is important too. For example, cybersecurity expertise will be in higher demand as the potential for cybercrime grows at the same rate as the technology.

As with many opportunities, a diverse background of knowledge is often helpful, especially as the pervasiveness of quantum technology grows across more industries, including finance, health care, telecommunications, chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Education that prepares for careers as technical writers, project managers, analysts and other similar roles is beneficial. The ability to communicate, think critically, collaborate and be curious is also important. And, as we move to a greener economy both in Canada and worldwide, knowledge of climate issues is valuable.

To fill the skills gap that the growth of quantum computing will create, academic institutions, companies and governments across Canada should be developing and executing strategies now. Businesses can start identifying what current job roles could evolve into quantum-based ones with some reskilling. Cross-industry and cross-business collaboration would also serve to develop key employee skills for a capable workforce nationwide. Finally, governments should ensure that their training programs recognize the growth potential of quantum, especially as it develops to meet the needs of stronger environmental measures.

In the case of academics, quantum education ought to be integrated into curriculum starting in high school and be offered widely at the post-secondary level. On this front, is progress being made here in Canada as programs launch at universities across the country, including the Universit de Sherbrooke, where last June IBM announced the new IBM Quantum Hub the first in Canada. Producing a skilled quantum workforce is not a small endeavour, so creating the opportunities for skills growth should be a priority.

The theme of 2021 is most certainly recovery and progress. As the country moves forward, we must look for new occasions to innovate and opportunities for growth we may not have had before. It is important now more than ever to do everything we can to ensure our workforce is prepared for the jobs to come, as well as for a more advanced and sustainable future.

Claude Guay, president of IBM Canada.

Shan Qiao Photo, Shan Qiao/Handout

Claude Guay is the president of IBM Canada. He is the leadership lab columnist for January 2021.

Story continues below advertisement

This column is part of Globe Careers Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about the world of work. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab and guidelines for how to contribute to the column here.

Stay ahead in your career. We have a weekly Careers newsletter to give you guidance and tips on career management, leadership, business education and more. Sign up today or follow us at @Globe_Careers.

Go here to see the original:
Closing the quantum computing skills gap could make all the difference in tackling climate change - The Globe and Mail