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P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

news.ucsb.edu

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Re: P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

#3
post #2

Very interesting article. This makes me wonder: Would it be possible to implement an equivalent to Shor's algorithm on a p-computer. Maybe the quantumness isn't necessary at all

I doubt it. Shor's algorithm relies on the quantum Fourier transform, which requires the complex phase information encoded in the quantum wavefunctions. The quantum probability norm (L2) accounts for interference between the complex amplitudes of these wavefunctions; the classical L1 probability norm does not.

Re: P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

#5
post #2

Very interesting article. This makes me wonder: Would it be possible to implement an equivalent to Shor's algorithm on a p-computer. Maybe the quantumness isn't necessary at all

That's a cool thought! For those who may not know, Shor's algorithm is fundamentally quantum because it relies on the interference of probability amplitudes, which can be both positive and negative. It could not be directly implemented on a p-computer because you could only simulate this interference, which removes the exponential advantage.

It's possible that an entirely different approach is made possible by p-computers, but this would be tricky to find. Furthermore, it seems that the main advantage of p-computers is sampling from a Boltzmann-like distribution, and I'm not aware that this is the bottleneck in any known factorisation algorithm.

Re: P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

#6
post #2

Very interesting article. This makes me wonder: Would it be possible to implement an equivalent to Shor's algorithm on a p-computer. Maybe the quantumness isn't necessary at all

The paper compares p-computers with D-Wave's quantum annealing machine, which is limited to only solving certain problems (as opposed to universal QC such as Google or IonQ's, that could in theory implement Shor's)

Re: P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

#8
post #2

Very interesting article. This makes me wonder: Would it be possible to implement an equivalent to Shor's algorithm on a p-computer. Maybe the quantumness isn't necessary at all

A direct equivalent, no, as stated in the introduction.

"Notably, while probabilistic computers can emulate quantum interference with polynomial resources, their convergence is in general believed to require exponential time [10]. This challenge is known as the signproblem in Monte Carlo algorithms [11]."

Re: P-computers can solve spin-glass problems faster than quantum systems

#9
post #2

Very interesting article. This makes me wonder: Would it be possible to implement an equivalent to Shor's algorithm on a p-computer. Maybe the quantumness isn't necessary at all

A direct equivalent, no, as stated in the introduction. "Notably, while probabilistic computers can emulate quantum interference with polynomial resources, their convergence is in general believed to require exponential time [10]. This challenge is known as the signproblem in Monte Carlo algorithms [11]."

> A direct equivalent, no, as stated in the introduction

... of https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64235-y

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