The Week in Quantum Computing - November 15th
The Week in Quantum Computing. Brought to you by Sergio Gago and The Quantum World Association.
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Quick Recap
Another big funding round this week. If the previous we announced $32M for ColdQuanta, this one IQM, the Finnish Q. Startup raised €39M in a series A round pumping up more the industry. On top of that the new Biden administration in the US has claimed that our industry is in their top priorities. We are also seeing big partnerships happening across the board, QCWare and Total, or Multiverse Computing and Bankia.
Ah, and it seems this will be the last edition of this newsletter… on sundays! A quick survey showed that most of you prefer to get it at the beginning of the week (you can still vote here !) Next one will be in your inboxes on monday
Featured Content
This nice library gives you a visual representation of what happens within the qubit topology on the IBM Q Systems https://pypi.org/project/qiskit-shots-animator/
Can we use quantum computers to the social workers complex agendas, and optimize their work? The answer is yes. And in fact is one the problems better suited for annealers and variational circuits (combinatorial optimization). In this paper they show how they have used the VQE algorithm for it: https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=104037
Events / Webinars and other stuff happening
More on Quantum Machine Learning: Quantum Barcelona announces the next two events. Quantum Machine Learning (November 25th). And for those new in the field: Quantum Computing and Qiskit for Dummies (November 18th)
Quantum Computing and Qiskit for Dummies - By QuantumBarcelona - November 18th. 18h CET.
The Summary of the Week
13 million euros for basic quantum research
The Austrian-based quantum physicists Oriol Romero-Isart and Markus Aspelmeyer, together with Lukas Novotny and Romain Quidant from ETH Zurich, will receive one of the prestigious ERC Synergy Grants. Together they want to explore the limits of the quantum world by positioning a solid-state object containing billions of atoms at two locations simultaneously for the first time.
Link: https://ift.tt/36dExvz
November 08, 2020 at 09:33AM
M SQUARED LEADS UK’S LARGEST INDUSTRY-LED PROJECT TO COMMERCIALISE QUANTUM COMPUTING
Nine major organisations from the UK’s quantum industry announce the launch of DISCOVERY – the largest industry-led quantum computing project in Britain to date. DISCOVERY represents a £10m research programme designed to address technology barriers to commercial quantum computing.
Link: https://ift.tt/3n98lQL
November 08, 2020 at 07:33PM
What is This Quantum-Inspired Stuff All About?
Sometimes when we argue about whether my Quantum Volume is bigger than yours, we forget that the real opponent for quantum computing is classical computing. Although Moore’s Law may be slowing down, it hasn’t stopped altogether and continued advances are being made in semiconductor technology.
Link: https://ift.tt/2GFs62S
November 09, 2020 at 08:33AM
Tiny device enables new record in super-fast quantum light detection
The integrated detector combines a silicon photonic chip with a silicon micro-electronics chip, yielding advanced speed in detecting quantum light.
Link: https://ift.tt/3ld4Po0
November 09, 2020 at 10:33PM
Honeywell Takes Tiny Steps Toward a Quantum Leap in Computing
A decade ago, two scientists at Honeywell International Inc. pitched their bosses a most improbable idea: The century-old industrial company should build a quantum computer. The idea was met with some skepticism. For one thing, International Business Machines Corp.
Link: https://ift.tt/2HL3plR
November 09, 2020 at 10:33PM
Quantum science center on tap at Delaware
Dr. Gour S. Pati, Delaware State University physics and engineering, left, is the principal investigator and director of the new Center of Excellence in Advanced Quantum Sensing, funded by a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Link: https://ift.tt/2JQsEUR
November 10, 2020 at 01:35PM
AI, Quantum R&D Funding to Remain a Priority Under Biden
Artificial intelligence and quantum information science are expected to remain key priorities for the U.S. under a Joe Biden presidency, but his spending and regulatory approaches are expected to differ from that of President Trump. The U.S.
Link: https://ift.tt/2ItMcxu
November 10, 2020 at 09:33PM
A Modem With a Tiny Mirror Cabinet Could Help Connect The Quantum Internet
Quantum physics promises huge advances not just in quantum computing but also in a quantum internet – a next-generation framework for transferring data from one place to another. Scientists have now invented technology suitable for a quantum modem that could act as a network gateway.
Link: https://ift.tt/2I38zu9
November 10, 2020 at 09:33PM
Europe is on its way to quantum leadership: IQM raises €39 M in Series A funding
This ranks among the highest fundraising rounds by a European deep-tech startup within a year. MIG Fonds has led this round, with participation from all existing investors including Tesi, OpenOcean, Maki.vc, Vito Ventures, Matadero QED.
Link: https://ift.tt/38vRq6Y
November 10, 2020 at 10:33PM
Paper: Focus beyond quadratic speedups for error-corrected quantum advantage
We discuss conditions under which it would be possible for a modest fault-tolerant quantum computer to realize a runtime advantage by executing a quantum algorithm with only a small polynomial speedup over the best classical alternative. The challenge is that the computation must finish within a reasonable amount of time while being difficult enough that the small quantum scaling advantage would compensate for the large constant factor overheads associated with error-correction. We compute several examples of such runtimes using state-of-the-art surface code constructions for superconducting qubits under a variety of assumptions. We conclude that quadratic speedups will not enable quantum advantage on early generations of such fault-tolerant devices unless there is a significant improvement in how we would realize quantum error-correction. While this conclusion persists even if we were to increase the rate of logical gates in the surface code by more than an order of magnitude, we also repeat this analysis for speedups by other polynomial degrees and find that quartic speedups look significantly more practical.
Link: https://ift.tt/3nq2JCb
November 11, 2020 at 09:34AM
Press Release, November 10 – QC Ware
QC Ware today announced a joint research collaboration with Total, one of world’s largest energy companies, to explore quantum optimization algorithms. QC Ware’s quantum engineers and Total’s researchers worked together on a project focused on quantum computing’s potential to model continuous variables to run optimization use cases that are critical to Total’s operations.
The project utilized Forge, QC Ware’s cloud services platform, which provides access to unique algorithms and enables large enterprises and public-sector organizations to start building quantum skills and prepare for the potential disruption that quantum computing will bring to the market in the near future.
Link: https://ift.tt/3lpb4oT
November 11, 2020 at 01:33PM
Quantum Computing: A Bubble Ready to Burst?
Quantum physics has the potential to redefine how computers communicate and ensure that no one could ever hack them. But many experts can’t see the finish line, let alone know when we’ll get there.
Link: https://ift.tt/3ncD5k2
November 11, 2020 at 11:33PM
New approach to circuit compression could deliver real-world quantum computers years ahead of schedule
Compression of a circuit that has an initial volume of 882 using the proposed method. The reduced circuit has a volume of 420, less than half its original volume.
Link: https://ift.tt/38AG3eb
November 13, 2020 at 08:34AM
Paper: Formulation of the Social Workers’ Problem in Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization Form and Solve It on a Quantum Computer
The problem of social workers visiting their patients at home is a class of combinatorial optimization problems and belongs to the class of problems known as NP-Hard. These problems require heuristic techniques to provide an efficient solution in the best of cases. In this article, in addition to providing a detailed resolution of the social workers’ problem using the Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization Problems (QUBO) formulation, an approach to mapping the inequality constraints in the QUBO form is given. Finally, we map it in the Hamiltonian of the Ising model to solve it with the Quantum Exact Solver and Variational Quantum Eigensolvers (VQE). The quantum feasibility of the algorithm will be tested on IBMQ computers.
Link: https://ift.tt/35qj2sh
November 13, 2020 at 07:33PM
Signs Of A Market Inflection For Quantum Computing Investment
Security CEO and founder of Safe Quantum Inc., working with data-driven companies to define, develop and deploy quantum-safe technologies. The drumbeat around quantum computing has been intensifying in recent years, especially in industries primed to take advantage of its promises of speed and volume.
But when can investors and companies developing quantum-based technologies expect an inflection point that will catapult the sector into the mainstream?
Link: https://ift.tt/3lkWbnq
November 13, 2020 at 10:33PM