Nuestra NEBRIJA 34 - julio 2020

34 Nebrija Research Francisco García Herrero Researcher at the ARIES Research Center and professor at the Computer Engineering department Increasingly often we read news about quantum processors, presenting them as a solution that will revolutionize computing and our society in general. Although we are closer to witnessing it, it is still an emerging area that provides a unique opportunity for those who wish to participate in its improvement. This paradigm offers new opportunities for research and business development, but lacks sufficient specialists in the various areas that come into play. It is common to hear that quantum processors will allow us to solve certain problems that cannot be addressed by classic processors. This is easy to understand if we focus on one of the fundamental concepts of this technology: superposition. In classical computing, the only two states -or minimum units of information- are '0’ and ‘1’, -classic bits-, which we can interpret as light bulbs connected to switches with two functions, on or off. Meanwhile, in quantum computing, there are 2n superimposed states with which we can work as the minimum unit of information, the qubits. The qubits, following the simile, would be like dimmable bulbs, which allow multiple states or light intensities between on and off. This implies that in a single operation with qubits, we are able to handle much more information than with classic bits. However, the classic bits work on mature technology, which allows working with large amounts of binary data in a quick, stable and cheap way. Meanwhile, qubits, so far in the existing implementations, are few, expensive and not too stable. It is at this point that the concept of quantum supremacy arises. Can an expensive quantum processor offer something that multiple low-cost classic processors cannot calculate? Returning to the The most important thing about a quantum processor is not only if it is faster or not, but also if it is capable of representing more realities than a classic processor. Quantum processors, an open door to research