quantum computer

sagan_fan · 2003-03-08, 13:21

You often hear folks saying a quantum computer would be able to factor numbers into its prime factors very, very fast. Now I wonder, how good will these comptuers be at determine if a number is a prime. Would it revolutionize that field too? How would that affect mersenne primes as being the leading form of big primes?

S80780 · 2003-03-08, 17:03

A quantum computer, if it can be realized, will be able to compute all primes up to a certain number of bits in one computation.
So the chance that the largest known prime is a mersenne would be just the chance that a mersenne is the largest prime of a certain bit-depth.
The clue of it is that you influence the system in a way that each bit might change its state. As long as you don't observe the system it is in a 'multistate', i.e. each bit is set and not set in the same moment. Thus, a computation with these bits would give you the result for every bit-combination for the cost of computing with a single one. The question is how to stay in this 'multistate' during computation.
There is also research in quantum encryption, which would be ~100% uncrackable. So, according to encryption, the question is wether there'll be a period when each encryption can instantly be cracked with quantum computers or is uncrackable due to quantum encryption.

Cheers,

Benjamin

eepiccolo · 2003-03-10, 13:58

Cool, a discussion about quantum computers. Actually, I've only heard of quantum computers, and have no idea how they are supposed to work, and why they are so efficient

. Could someone possibly explain how a quantum computer is supposed to work?

Jim · 2003-03-10, 15:38

try this link, a whole heap of stuff ...

http://www.qubit.org/

Jim

Exluminis · 2003-03-26, 05:01

CABINETS - CPUs - Memory - Floating Point Ops / sec
1* - 16 - 64 - 256 GB - 204.8 Billion
1 - 64 - 256 - 1024 GB - 819 Billion
4 - 256 - 1024 - 4096 GB - 3.27 Trillion
8 - 512 - 2048 - 8192 GB - 6.55 Trillion
16 - 1024 - 4096 - 16384 GB - 13.1 Trillion
32 - 2048 - 8192 - 32768 GB - 26.2 Trillion
64 - 4096 - 16384 - 65536 GB - 52.4 Trillion

Hopefully there will be an alternative to the public-key algorithms with computers like these available to the general market.

I am thinking a maximum configuration will do well with the Cray X1 system. Access to IBM p690s and i890s maybe a few Sun Fire 15Ks and storage for output will speed along the search for the greatest primes.
StorEdge arrays are required for this system due to the amount of data constituted by prime research. Just to calculate the first billion prime numbers it takes 1.12 GB including endlines as a seperation byte. Sure the systems are expsnsive but less so considerably to educational institutions. The quantum site is right about how it will just be a matter of time before all RSA-type algorithms are defeated.

2003-03-08, 13:21	#1
sagan_fan Oct 2002 2³ Posts	quantum computer You often hear folks saying a quantum computer would be able to factor numbers into its prime factors very, very fast. Now I wonder, how good will these comptuers be at determine if a number is a prime. Would it revolutionize that field too? How would that affect mersenne primes as being the leading form of big primes?

2003-03-08, 17:03	#2
S80780 Jan 2003 far from M40 5³ Posts	quantum computer A quantum computer, if it can be realized, will be able to compute all primes up to a certain number of bits in one computation. So the chance that the largest known prime is a mersenne would be just the chance that a mersenne is the largest prime of a certain bit-depth. The clue of it is that you influence the system in a way that each bit might change its state. As long as you don't observe the system it is in a 'multistate', i.e. each bit is set and not set in the same moment. Thus, a computation with these bits would give you the result for every bit-combination for the cost of computing with a single one. The question is how to stay in this 'multistate' during computation. There is also research in quantum encryption, which would be ~100% uncrackable. So, according to encryption, the question is wether there'll be a period when each encryption can instantly be cracked with quantum computers or is uncrackable due to quantum encryption. Cheers, Benjamin

2003-03-10, 13:58	#3
eepiccolo Dec 2002 Frederick County, MD 172₁₆ Posts	How does a quantum computer work? Cool, a discussion about quantum computers. Actually, I've only heard of quantum computers, and have no idea how they are supposed to work, and why they are so efficient . Could someone possibly explain how a quantum computer is supposed to work?

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2003-03-10, 15:38	#4
Jim Feb 2003 3² Posts	try this link, a whole heap of stuff ... http://www.qubit.org/ Jim

2003-03-26, 05:01	#5
Exluminis Mar 2003 3² Posts	CABINETS - CPUs - Memory - Floating Point Ops / sec 1* - 16 - 64 - 256 GB - 204.8 Billion 1 - 64 - 256 - 1024 GB - 819 Billion 4 - 256 - 1024 - 4096 GB - 3.27 Trillion 8 - 512 - 2048 - 8192 GB - 6.55 Trillion 16 - 1024 - 4096 - 16384 GB - 13.1 Trillion 32 - 2048 - 8192 - 32768 GB - 26.2 Trillion 64 - 4096 - 16384 - 65536 GB - 52.4 Trillion Hopefully there will be an alternative to the public-key algorithms with computers like these available to the general market. I am thinking a maximum configuration will do well with the Cray X1 system. Access to IBM p690s and i890s maybe a few Sun Fire 15Ks and storage for output will speed along the search for the greatest primes. StorEdge arrays are required for this system due to the amount of data constituted by prime research. Just to calculate the first billion prime numbers it takes 1.12 GB including endlines as a seperation byte. Sure the systems are expsnsive but less so considerably to educational institutions. The quantum site is right about how it will just be a matter of time before all RSA-type algorithms are defeated.