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0 pointsrandomsearch7y ago0 comments

Great comment. Circuits are particularly unhelpful in describing quantum algorithms because they usually indicate a fixed problem size, and they do not provide an insight into entanglement, one of the fundamental “resources” of QC.

We need new representations and much better abstractions to get away from the low-level thinking we are currently promoting.

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throwaway375857y ago

> [Quantum circuits] do not provide an insight into entanglement

What do you mean? Entanglement occurs whenever the state of a system cannot be factored into a product of the states of its components. Quantum circuits can definitely do that. Just take a qubit, apply the Hadamard gate to it, then CNOT it with a second qubit to get an entangled Bell state. You can see it in action here: http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/GeneratingEntangledQubits/.

Quantum circuits are also used to describe all kinds of quantum algorithms (quantum Fourier transform, Grover’s algorithm, quantum teleportation, etc).

antpls7y ago

I'm not sure about the actual intent of the grand-parent, but I think it was referring to insight that a larger audience can understand.

I have a CS degree, and I don't know what is "Hadamard", "Bell state", etc. Also your link doesn't load on Firefox Mobile Android, so it didn't help :-)

Proposing a Python library about Quantum Computing is an attempt at explaining mechanisms to a larger audience (surely it is not an easy task)

Edit : the link finally loaded on another tab while writing the comment, but you have to pay for a license of Wolf.A. to run it, I guess. That can't be arguably considered "accessible" knowledge.

randomsearchOP7y ago

I mean, they do not illustrate when qubits have become entangled. You can't see that. I'm sure we can do better.

throwaway375857y ago

I’m not sure what you mean by “illustrate when qubits have become entangled”. Can you explain?

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throwaway375857y ago

> [Quantum circuits] do not provide an insight into entanglement

Quantum circuits are also used to describe all kinds of quantum algorithms (quantum Fourier transform, Grover’s algorithm, quantum teleportation, etc).

antpls7y ago

I'm not sure about the actual intent of the grand-parent, but I think it was referring to insight that a larger audience can understand.

I have a CS degree, and I don't know what is "Hadamard", "Bell state", etc. Also your link doesn't load on Firefox Mobile Android, so it didn't help :-)

Proposing a Python library about Quantum Computing is an attempt at explaining mechanisms to a larger audience (surely it is not an easy task)

Edit : the link finally loaded on another tab while writing the comment, but you have to pay for a license of Wolf.A. to run it, I guess. That can't be arguably considered "accessible" knowledge.

randomsearchOP7y ago

I mean, they do not illustrate when qubits have become entangled. You can't see that. I'm sure we can do better.

throwaway375857y ago

I’m not sure what you mean by “illustrate when qubits have become entangled”. Can you explain?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse