Saturday Morning Lecture:

"Quantum Computing"

Peter Shor

Massachusetts Institute
of Technology

Abstract:
A quantum computer is a hypothetical machine for computing whose basic underlying operations are based on quantum mechanics. We explain a mathematical model for quantum computing and show how a quantum computer can factor large numbers much faster than the best known algorithms for digital computers. It is not clear whether it will ever be possible to build large-scale quantum computers. One of the difficulties is the errors which will inevitably be introduced when manipulating quantum states coherence. We very briefly discuss quantum error-correcting codes and fault-tolerant quantum computing, which can guarantee highly reliable quantum computation, given only moderately reliable quantum computing hardware.