PIRSA:20010094

Quantum Computational Supremacy and Its Applications

Aaronson, S. (2020). Quantum Computational Supremacy and Its Applications. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/20010094

Aaronson, Scott. Quantum Computational Supremacy and Its Applications. Perimeter Institute, Jan. 29, 2020, https://pirsa.org/20010094 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:20010094,
            doi = {10.48660/20010094},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/20010094},
            author = {Aaronson, Scott},
            keywords = {Quantum Information},
            language = {en},
            title = {Quantum Computational Supremacy and Its Applications},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2020},
            month = {jan},
            note = {PIRSA:20010094 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Scott Aaronson

The University of Texas at Austin

Talk number
PIRSA:20010094
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

Last fall, a team at Google announced the first-ever demonstration of "quantum computational supremacy"---that is, a clear quantum speedup over a classical computer for some task---using a 53-qubit programmable superconducting chip called Sycamore.  In addition to engineering, Google's accomplishment built on a decade of research in quantum computing theory.  This talk will discuss questions like: what exactly was the contrived computational problem that Google solved?  How does one verify the outputs using a classical computer?  And how confident are we that the problem really is classically hard---especially in light of subsequent counterclaims by IBM?  I'll end with a proposed application for Google's experiment---namely, the generation of certified random bits, for use (for example) in proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies---that I've been developing and that Google is now working to demonstrate.