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This is a watershed movement at least for quantum computing. Magic ingredient for quantum computing means magic-state distillation
What is the most important ingredient for building quantum computers? A team of University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) says some weird magic can make a whole lot of difference.
Scientists have said that contextuality is of paramount importance in achieving universal quantum computation.
“Before these results, we didn’t necessarily know what resources were needed for a physical device to achieve the advantage of quantum information. Now we know one,” explained lead author Mark Howard, a postdoctoral fellow at IQC. “As researchers work to build a universal quantum computer, understanding the minimum physical resources required is an important step to finding ways to harness the power of the quantum world.”
The term magic does not imply card tricks or pulling rabbits out of any hats, but rather a specific technique to constructing noise-resistant quantum computers called magic-state distillation.
Magic states are important, but also hard to manage and realize. It enhances the power of a quantum device to accomplish the enhanced processing power of a universal quantum computer.
“These new results give us a deeper understanding of the nature of quantum computation. They also clarify the practical requirements for designing a realistic quantum computer,” noted Joseph Emerson, professor of Applied Mathematics and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research fellow. “I expect the results will help both theorists and experimentalists find more efficient methods to overcome the limitations imposed by unavoidable sources of noise and other errors.”
The findings on contextuality and magic are published in the journal Nature.
Agencies/Canadajournal
