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IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

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Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#231

Post by speculativename »

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 was lucky enough to tour the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York a few months ago and captured several sound recordings of this[0] room housing a quantum computer. Not only do they look cool, they sound very intense! [1] A stark contrast to the minimalist/austere design of the actual enclosure, or maybe it's fitting, depending on your perspective...

[0] https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/htt...

[1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CeZjXUH6Y8ZvfcS0IM0MWoLNAYJ...

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#232

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #187
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…

Are there any pictures of the hand-wired LISP Machine online? I searched, but couldn't find it. Also - when LISP was invented (1958) - what was the state of computers at the time? Doing some research - it seems like direct keyboard input to computers was only available for 2 years prior. It seems like languages were decades ahead of hardware. I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while…

> I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while computers were seemingly VERY primitive.

My intuition is that back then getting run time on computers was so scarce that the best programmers and mathematicians spent a great deal of brain time considering exactly what their software should be. If you only get one run a day, if that, you're gonna do your best to make it count. Today we're often in the opposite situation, where it can be entirely rational to burn incredible amounts of computation in the absolute sense to save brain time.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#233

Post by orbifold »

mixedCase wrote: post #199
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any pictures of the hand-wired LISP Machine online? I searched, but couldn't find it. Also - when LISP was invented (1958) - what was the state of computers at the time? Doing some research - it seems like direct keyboard input to computers was only available for 2 years prior. It seems like languages were decades ahead of hardware. I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while…

> I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while computers were seemingly VERY primitive. I have a much bigger emotional conflict when contrasting that with the current state of mainstream programming languages, that are only just beginning to tread onto territories like algebraic data types and pattern matching that ML paved almost 50 years ago. Is there any hope for true dependent typing…

Lean4 comes pretty close to a general purpose dependently typed programming language.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#234

Post by jazzyjackson »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #224
dhosek wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

When I was a kid I helped my grandpa move out of his office when he retired. He was a senior engineering fellow with Monsanto, specializing in bubble trays in refinery processes. He worked out of their big campus in St Louis, and gave me a tour as a thanks for helping him with the boxes and such. There's several things that have stuck in my memory from that tour. One was seeing their Cray. I forget which specific mod…

Thanks for sharing. I worked on the UIUC campus for some time right by the greenhouses where they experimented with cultivars of corn and other grasses, always funny to see giant 8 foot tall plants lit with sodium lamps through the winter.

As for APL, I haven't really got past an orientation in the language but it's held a total mystique to me since seeing this video circa 1975 [0] walking through the language with a Selectric teletype acting as a REPL, totally flipped my understanding of computer history, I assumed it was all punchcard programming back in the old black and white days xD (I am born 1990 for reference, trying to catch up with what happened before me)

[0] (30min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTpQ4Kk2wA

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#235

Post by davidgerard »

dvh wrote: post #17

Will this system be finally able to factor number 35 using Shor? IBM tried and failed in 2019

For those interested, here's the paper where the IBM Quantum Computer failed to factor 35: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.100.012305

I found a cite to it claiming this was evidence of success in factoring 35, 'cos they didn't read past the abstract (which could be read as indicating success) to the words in the paper "Eventually, the algorithm fails to factor N = 35."

But yeah, "call me when it factors 35."

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#237

Post by dekhn »

cpuguy83 wrote: post #191
dekhn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly correct. The moment something important happens in quantum computing the community will recognize it as such. In the meantime most of us are just waiting for somebody to do something interesting that couldn't really have been solved (possibly approximately) on classical systems.

In that sense, this is a pretty big step because for the first time there is a quantum computer that cannot be simulated by a classical one. It's also expected they will have a processor with over 400qubits next year and over 1000 in 2 years. This are huge leaps. Still they aren't currently doing anything useful and need to prove themselves.

I wouldn't trust the claim it can't be simulated; right after google declared quantum supremacy another group noticed that the classical solution was actually much faster than google said (and that's before any real optimization work gets started). https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.14502

Also as pointed out, these aren't full qubits, nor does any doubling mean the QC will suddenly be able to do anything useful.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#238

Post by jazzyjackson »

chaxor wrote: post #198
mcpherrinm wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The LEDs are green! https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6F80/production/... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53147684 And they do have a snazzy coloured endcap... https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/spVSO7_2vryY6neSXK1JfQ--~B... https://www.engadget.com/japan-fugaku-supercomputer-01312169...

Isn't that due to green being the highest energy of light for an LED available at that time? IIRC, everytime a new material was created to get the increase in band gap for a higher energy photon (i.e. blue or violet), there was a Nobel prize given out. Tuning the band gap with a new material back then was difficult I think.

green has a lower band gap relative to blue/white, ~2V depending on chemistry, but there's something like that going on - IIRC human eyes are most sensitive to green around the ~500/550nm wavelength that green LEDs emit, so you can get good brightness out of low power.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#239

Post by gerdesj »

"IBM measures progress in quantum computing hardware through three performance attributes: Scale, Quality and Speed."

That's nice. The real world (let alone the quantum one - whatever that means) doesn't.

Please Mr IBM: Get your scientists to inform your press releases. At the moment you sound like a bit of a nob with an unfortunate affliction.

Re: IBM unveils 127-qubit quantum processor

#240

Post by csee »

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…

- Crypto

- Unfortunately, even less local computing, with everything provisioned from the cloud under a SaaS payment model.

- More mRNA applications

- Power/energy networks and markets across borders.

- Theranos, but legitimate. Better, cheaper and more convenient early monitoring/diagnostics for vitamin deficiencies and early stages of disease.

- Carbon neutral combustible fuels.

- Cheaper grid-scale storage.

- Better understanding of the gut-brain connection.

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