A quantum computer only needs one universe

DOI10.1016/S1355-2198(03)00038-8zbMATH Open1222.81146arXivquant-ph/0003084OpenAlexW3101446354MaRDI QIDQ720555FDOQ720555

Andrew M. Steane

Publication date: 17 October 2011

Published in: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Part B. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The nature of quantum computation is discussed. It is argued that, in terms of the amount of information manipulated in a given time, quantum and classical computation are equally efficient. Quantum superposition does not permit quantum computers to ``perform many computations simultaneously except in a highly qualified and to some extent misleading sense. Quantum computation is therefore not well described by interpretations of quantum mechanics which invoke the concept of vast numbers of parallel universes. Rather, entanglement makes available types of computation process which, while not exponentially larger than classical ones, are unavailable to classical systems. The essence of quantum computation is that it uses entanglement to generate and manipulate a physical representation of the correlations between logical entities, without the need to completely represent the logical entities themselves.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0003084

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zbMATH Keywords

entanglementquantum computationparallel universesclassical computation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum computation (81P68)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The Heisenberg representation of quantum computers
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• Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantum Computing
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Cited In (8)

• Error-detection-based quantum fault-tolerance threshold
• Universality, Invariance, and the Foundations of Computational Complexity in the Light of the Quantum Computer
• The logos categorical approach to quantum mechanics. II. Quantum superpositions and intensive values
• ON TWO PROBLEMS OF ASYMMETRIC QUANTUM CODES
• Universal resources for quantum computing
• Principles and applications of control in quantum systems
• Many worlds, the cluster-state quantum computer, and the problem of the preferred basis
• Spin-based quantum dot quantum computing in silicon

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