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IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

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Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#131

Post by tasty_freeze »

jes wrote: post #120
NegativeLatency wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven’t read that yet but I read “House” by him recently and it was quite good

I enjoyed both Soul of a New Machine and House. A scene from the former that I remember. The principle architect of the machine (Tom West) is talking with Edson DeCastro (CEO of Data General) and is asking for a new oscilloscope to help with the bring-up of the machine. DeCastro tells West, essentially, he's not authorizing a new, expensive scope. West, flabbergasted, asks why. DeCastro lowers his head, peering over…

I read the book when it was new. Just a handful of years later I graduated college and got a job at a start up. One of the guys who interviewed me and ended up in the office directly across from my cubicle was Carl Alsing.

A few months later someone mentioned that Carl was in "Soul of a New Machine" (Carl was the seasoned hand who was in charge of the "microkids", the green engineers responsible for writing the microcode).

I re-read the book. When Kidder first introduces Alsing he sums him up in a few sentences, and damn if he wasn't spot on. Later in the book is an entire chapter about Carl and his unorthodox work habits, and again, it all was so on the mark with what I had learned of Carl firsthand that it gave the rest of the book a great deal of credibility.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#132

Post by nixpulvis »

krylon wrote: post #121
rain1 wrote: post #60

It is incredibly dishonest of them to post this without any details about the noise parameters of the system. When reading "127-qubit system" you would expect that you can perform arbitrary quantum computations on these 127 qubits and they would reasonably cohere for at least a few quantum gates. In reality the noise levels are so strong that you can essentially do nothing with them except get random noise results. M…

> The omission of proper technical details is essentially the same as lying. Welcome, child, to the beautiful/"special" world of marketing!

Be gone fetus, for there has always been honest marketing. It's just harder to find, sadly.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#133

Post by samaman »

piannucci wrote: post #78
samaman wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also another problem: you now have 2^127 output values leaving the quantum processor. If you're using a hybrid quantum algorithm that requires classical processing as well (which are most algos used today), you'd need more than a yottabyte of RAM. We can get around this problem by storing all 2^127 pieces of output data into other data types that compress the total size, but if you genuinely are trying to use all 2^1…

You don't get the entire wave-function as output; the wave-function is not observable. Different measurements might reveal information about certain components of the state, at least probabilistically, but those same measurements will always destroy some information. See the No-cloning Theorem.

Right, but you would still get the basis states for all 127 qubits right? And that would be 2^127 output states. Yes, you could do some sort of search maybe to find highest probability outputs only, but if you needed every output value for a follow up algorithmic step (like in VQE for ground state prep wherein you keep using previous results to adjust the wavefunctions until ground is reached), then wouldn't it be a bit tough to use?

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#135

Post by ag8 »

rbanffy wrote: post #126

IBM has been making the coolest-looking (and coolest) computers... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0glxDw700g

It's crazy that a lot of the freezers they use, that can get temperatures down to a few millikelvin, are commodities at this point. You could go and buy one if you wanted to for $50k!

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#136

Post by rackjack »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #33

Quantum Computers sitting in their cryogenic chambers are such works of art, stacks of giant brass plates and hundreds of heat pipes (or coolant pipes? liquid helium I suppose) twisted and coiling throughout the structure hanging like some steampunk chandelier (why do they hang from above anyway?) EDIT: changed to a few direct links to pics: [0][1][2] The esoteric design reminds me of the Connection Machine blog post…

I look forward to the day we can look back at these "quantum chandeliers" with nostalgia, like we look back on those massive, room-sized mainframes today.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#137

Post by api »

RivieraKid wrote: post #86

Tangential question, what are the areas of technology where we can expect to see substantial progress or breakthroughs within 2030, i.e. what are the most exciting areas to follow and look forward to? Here's my list: - Nuclear fusion (Helion, ZAP, TAE, Tokamak Energy, CFS, Wendelstein). - Self-driving cars. - New types of nuclear fission reactors. - Spaceflight (SpaceX Starship). - Supersonic airplanes (Boom). - Soli…

I'd say fusion is a sleeper. You still have that stupid "30 years away and always will be" meme but there is real progress being made. Fusion would completely change the world, though not overnight because it would take another decade or so before it would advance enough to be cost competitive.

I'm semi-optimistic about space flight and longevity. I think Starship will fly, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of its most ambitious specs get dialed back a bit. I'll be somewhat (but not totally) surprised if the "chopsticks" idea works.

We will probably see aging-reversal to some limited extent within 10-20 years, but the effect will probably be more to extend "health span" than add that much to life span. (I'll take it.)

I'll add one not on the list: the use of deep learning to discover theories in areas like physics and math that have not occurred to humans and maybe are not capable of being found by ordinary human cognition.

Wildcard, but plausible: detection of a strong extrasolar biosphere candidate using JWST or another next-generation telescope. Detection would be based on albedo absorption spectra, so we wouldn't know for sure. Talk of an interstellar fly-by probe would start pretty quickly.

I wouldn't list sub-5nm as "far out." We will almost definitely get sub-5nm. AFAIK 3nm is in the pipeline. Sub-1nm is "far out" and may or may not happen.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#138

Post by loxias »

rackjack wrote: post #136
jazzyjackson wrote: post #33

Quantum Computers sitting in their cryogenic chambers are such works of art, stacks of giant brass plates and hundreds of heat pipes (or coolant pipes? liquid helium I suppose) twisted and coiling throughout the structure hanging like some steampunk chandelier (why do they hang from above anyway?) EDIT: changed to a few direct links to pics: [0][1][2] The esoteric design reminds me of the Connection Machine blog post…

I look forward to the day we can look back at these "quantum chandeliers" with nostalgia, like we look back on those massive, room-sized mainframes today.

I can't wait to be in the vintage quantum computing club, where we build working replicas of the "quantum chandeliers" with more modern and stable parts, and tinker with them as functional room decoration.

Related, the DEC PDPs certainly look stylish!

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#139

Post by dhosek »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #33

Quantum Computers sitting in their cryogenic chambers are such works of art, stacks of giant brass plates and hundreds of heat pipes (or coolant pipes? liquid helium I suppose) twisted and coiling throughout the structure hanging like some steampunk chandelier (why do they hang from above anyway?) EDIT: changed to a few direct links to pics: [0][1][2] The esoteric design reminds me of the Connection Machine blog post…

Cray supercomputers were also aesthetically beautiful machines:

https://cdn.britannica.com/11/23611-050-81E61C8A/Cray-1-supe...

So happy to be able to find a picture of the wirewrap inside: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e2/d2/47/e2d2...

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#140

Post by oezi »

gfodor wrote: post #114
paxys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly I'd also qualify most of these as things that consumers are overly excited about but will never reach their expected potential (at least in our lifetimes) due to technological limits. Same as flying cars, 3D TVs, 3D printing, household robots, holograms, AR glasses.

AR glasses will hit a wall but passthrough AR will be converged on rapidly. Starting 2022

Any particular insight why 2022?

Hololens 2 has shown that it isn't so easy to advance the field.

I don't think an Apple device is forthcoming or likely to leapfrog.

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