What is “Quantum Supremacy”? (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Technology
Prelims level: Quantum Supremacy
Mains level: Details about the Quantum Supremacy and its application process

Context

•  U.K.-based Financial Times said Google had claimed to have achieved ‘quantum supremacy’. In a line, it means that researchers at Google had solved a really difficult problem in seconds with the help of quantum computers which a supercomputer could not.

What are quantum computers?

•  Quantum computers compute in ‘qubits’ (or quantum bits). They exploit the properties of quantum mechanics, the science that governs how matter behaves on the atomic scale. In this scheme of things, processors can be a 1 and a 0 simultaneously, a state called quantum superposition.

What is qubit and superimposition?

•  A quantum bit (qubit) is the smallest unit of quantum information, which is the quantum analog of the regular computer bit, used in the field of quantum computing.
•  A quantum bit can exist in superposition, which means that it can exist in multiple states at once.
•  Compared to a regular bit, which can exist in one of two states, 1 or 0, the quantum bit can exist as a 1, 0 or 1 and 0 at the same time.
•  This allows for very fast computing and the ability to do multitudes of calculations at once, theoretically.

Advantages:

•  While this accelerates the speed of computation, a machine with less than a 100 qubits can solve problems with a lot of data that are even theoretically beyond the capabilities of the most powerful supercomputers.
•  Because of quantum superposition, a quantum computer — if it works to plan —can mimic several classical computers working in parallel.
•  The ideas governing quantum computers have been around since the 1990s but actual machines have been around since 2011, most notably built by Canadian company D-Wave Systems.
•  Quantum computers do not look like desktops or laptops instead they resemble the air-conditioned server rooms of many offices.

Application

•  Processing huge amounts of data quickly is a real-world problem and one that can be tackled faster by quantum computers. For example, if we have a database of a million social media profiles and had to look for a particular individual, a classical computer would have to scan each one of those profiles which would amount to a million steps. In 1996, Lov K. Grover from Bell Labs discovered that a quantum computer would be able to do the same task with one thousand steps instead of a million. That translates into reduced processors and reduced energy.
•  Several encryption systems used in banking and security applications are premised on computers being unable to handle mathematical problems that are computationally demanding beyond a limit. Quantum computers, in theory, can surpass those limits.

Quantum Supremacy

•  Quantum supremacy refers to quantum computers being able to solve a problem that a classical computer cannot.
•  Google’s quantum computer, named Sycamore, claimed ‘supremacy’ because it reportedly did the task in 200 seconds that would have apparently taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.

What will it mean for online banking?

•  A question critics raise is how the use of quantum computing and its ability to break encryption codes will impact online banking.
•  Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist who has written on Google’s feat, opines that current encryption standards would require a quantum computer to have “several thousand logical qubits” working in tandem perfectly. It requires 30 millions of qubits of the kind that powers Sycamore to make ‘logical qubits’.
•  If technological breakthroughs were to pose a real threat to banking or financial operations, it is likely that banks will harness quantum computers themselves.

Way ahead

•  There are no quantum computers in India yet.
•  In 2018, the Department of Science & Technology unveiled a programme called Quantum-Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) and committed to investing ₹80 crore over the next three years to accelerate research.
•  The plan is to have a quantum computer built in India within the next decade. Phase-1 of the problem involves hiring research experts and establishing teams with the know-how to physically build such systems.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) The Fundamental Rights are enshrined in Part III of the Indian Constitution from Articles 12 to 35. With reference to the Fundamental Rights, consider the following statements:

(1) Only the Parliament can make law for giving effect to the Fundamental Rights.
(2) When the Fundamental rights, available against the State’s action only, are violated by the private individuals, there are no constitutional remedies available.
(3) The scope of operation of Fundamental Rights is limited by Article 31A, Article 31B and Article 31C.

Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: D
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What is “Quantum Supremacy”?