By Rebekah Marcarelli r.marcarelli@hngn.com | Jun 12, 2014 01:40 PM EDT
"This geometric figure illustrates the concept of magic states and their relation to contextuality. The triangular region cont! ains quantum states that are not magic and do not exhibit contextuality. States outside the triangle do exhibit contextuality and may be useful as a resource in the magic-state model of quantum computing." (Photo : University of Waterloo)
Researchers discovered a "weird magic ingredient" for quantum computing.
An aspect of quantum theory called contextuality is crucial for achieving universal quantum computation, a University of Waterloo Institute of Quantum Computing news release reported.
In order to gain the power of a universal quantum computer is finding efficient ways to control quantum states.
"Before these results, we didn't necessarily know what resources were needed for a physical device to achieve the advantage of quantum information. Now we know one," Mark Howard, a postdoctoral fellow at IQC and the lead author of the paper, said in the news release. "As researchers work to build a universal quantum computer, understanding the minimum physical resources required is an important step to finding ways to harness the power of the quantum world."
Quantum devices are almost impossible to build because they need to operate in a noise-resistant environment. The "magic" is a new approach to building a noise-resistant quantum computer. The process is known as magic-state distillation.
By identifying this "magic" state researchers could be closer to achieving a universal quantum computer.
"These new results give us a deeper understanding of the nature of quantum computation. They also clarify the practical requirements for designing a realistic quantum computer," Joseph Emerson, professor of Applied Mathematics and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research fellow, said in the news release. "I expect the results will help both theorists and experimentalists find more efficient methods to overcome the limitations imposed by unavoidable sources of noise and other errors."
In the real world measurements look at the property of something but in quantum terms what is observed really depends on how the process is carried out. Measurement outcomes rely on all of the other measurements that are performed.
"Contextuality means that quantum measurements can not be thought of as simply revealing some pre-existing properties of the system under study. That's part of the weirdness of quantum mechanics,"" the news release reported.
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Source : http://www.hngn.com/articles/33616/20140612/quantum-computings-weird-magical-ingredient-revealed.htm
