The Daily Qubit

NVIDIA takeover and the existential crisis of a calculator

Author

Cierra Choucair
March 20, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

March 20, 2024 | Issue 1

Welcome to The Lab Report: Quantum Computing Edition!

The first issue has landed! My name is Cierra and I’ll be your daily qubit curator from here on out.

I’ve long held physics near and dear to my heart, but I’ve often been distraught by the barriers that exist around academia and the physical sciences in particular. Then comes quantum computing shrouded in equal amounts of intrigue and exclusivity.

Quantum computing could very well be our generation's silicon transistor moment, heralding a new era of discovery and innovation. But to truly unlock its potential, we’ll need community of scientists, engineers, enthusiasts, and even the occasional skeptic to make it happen.

I invite you to join me in tearing down those walls of inaccessibility. Let's make quantum computing as commonplace in conversation as the latest AI chatbot craze—yes, the one that has your grandma asking if robots are about to take over her knitting club. Besides, why should AI have all the fun?

Welcome to The Lab Report: Quantum Computing Edition. The future is quantum, and it starts with us.

QUANTUM PULSE

Your Daily Dose of Quantum

In the news:

🌟 ORCA Computing and NVIDIA partnered to unveil the first successful demonstration of a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm, blending ORCA's PT Series photonic quantum processor with NVIDIA CUDA Quantum, showcasing significant advancements in quantum computing applications like image processing and chemical discovery. It's a quantum leap forward, making the previously impossible task of quantumly enhanced satellite photo enhancements seem as easy as pie—a very, scientifically complex pie.

🌟 NVIDIA is enhancing its quantum computing ecosystem through a strategic partnership with Infleqtion, focusing on CUDA-Q integrations that promise to revolutionize fields ranging from molecular research to supercomputing and quantum education. This collaboration might just be the buddy movie of the tech world, where quantum computing and classical computing team up to tackle the universe's mysteries—with more qubits and less drama.

🌟 NVIDIA's Blackwell platform is here to turbocharge the AI era, promising up to 25x more efficiency in running mega AI models as well as contributing to breakthroughs in quantum computing, all while winning nods from every big tech name you can think of. Not to mention, she is a beauty ⬇️ 

Research Recap:

💥 Say what? Researchers have crafted a new tool to check if quantum computers are on the right track, making quantum science a bit less of a guessing game.

💥 Okay, I’m following. They've introduced a way to measure the accuracy of quantum simulations in predicting the lowest energy state of a system using the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) without needing to know the precise outcome ahead of time, by assessing the "distance" between an estimated and the actual quantum state.

💥 Cool story, but why? This technique could streamline quantum computing tasks across various fields, from material science to drug discovery, by providing a reliable method to evaluate and improve quantum algorithms.

Leo Joon Il Moon, Mandar M. Sohoni, Michael A. Shimizu, Praveen Viswanathan, Kevin Zhang, Eun-Ah Kim, and Peter L. McMahon. "Hamiltonian-reconstruction distance as a success metric for the Variational Quantum Eigensolver." (2024). Available on arXiv: 2403.11995 [quant-ph].

💥 Say What? Scientists have developed a large-scale setup that can hold over 6,100 atomic qubits, a crucial step for making quantum computers more powerful and reliable.

💥 Okay, I’m following. They've experimentally demonstrated a tweezer array with around 12,000 sites for neutral atoms, achieving record coherence times and imaging fidelity, which are critical for scaling up quantum simulations, computing, and metrology.

💥 Cool story, but why? This breakthrough paves the way for near-term universal quantum computing with thousands of qubits and opens new avenues for quantum error correction and large-scale quantum applications.

Hannah J. Manetsch, Gyohei Nomura, Elie Bataille, Kon H. Leung, Xudong Lv, and Manuel Endres. "A tweezer array with 6100 highly coherent atomic qubits." (2024). Available on arXiv: 2403.12021 [quant-ph].

💥 Say what? Scientists have developed a large-scale setup that can hold over 6,100 atomic qubits, a crucial step for making quantum computers more powerful and reliable.

💥 Okay, I’m following. They've experimentally demonstrated a tweezer array with around 12,000 sites for neutral atoms, achieving record coherence times and imaging fidelity, which are critical for scaling up quantum simulations, computing, and metrology.

💥 Cool story, but why? This breakthrough paves the way for near-term universal quantum computing with thousands of qubits and opens new avenues for quantum error correction and large-scale quantum applications.

Constantin Dalyac, Lucas Leclerc, Louis Vignoli, Mehdi Djellabi, Wesley da Silva Coelho, Bruno Ximenez, Alexandre Dareau, Davide Dreon, Vincent E. Elfving, Adrien Signoles, Louis-Paul Henry, and Loïc Henriet. "Graph Algorithms with Neutral Atom Quantum Processors." (2024). Available on arXiv: 2403.11931 [quant-ph].

THE QUANTUM MECHANIC’S TOOLBOX

Featured Tool of the Day

🌟 Shor’s Algorithm 🌟 

Cursed Shor’s Representation Courtesy of DALL-E

TLDR: Like giving a quantum computer a secret decoder ring. Instead of taking EONS to crack a code as it would a regular computer, it would be reduced to seconds. AKA: why everyone is suddenly very (and justifiably) concerned about cybersecurity in the era of quantum computing.

Unabridged: Shor’s Algorithm utilizes the principles of quantum superposition and entanglement to perform parallel computations, significant speeding up the process of finding the prime factors of large integers.

Quantum Superposition: unlike a classical bit, a qubit can be simultaneously 1 and 0 at the same time, allowing quantum computers to perform many calculations at once

Entanglement: Consider a system of two particles. No matter how far apart they are (two particles within an object vs two particles separated by planets), when one changes the other changes instantly. Famously described by Einstein as “Spooky action at a distance”

Shor’s Algorithm uses a two-part process to factorize a large number into its prime numbers.

  1. First, use the Quantum Fourier Transform to find the period r of a function related to N. The QFT is effective because it exploits quantum parallelism to efficiently evaluate the function for many different inputs simultaneously, a task that's exponentially slower on classical computers.

  2. Once the period r is known, the algorithm uses a classical computation to derive the prime factors of N through mathematical relationships to link r to the factors.

Which format for algorithms/other tools do you prefer?

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QUANTUM LEARNING HUB

Expand Your Quantum Horizons

Resource Highlight:

  • If you’re not catching a spare NVIDIA GTC Conference session in your free time, then what are you doing? Yesterday, NVIDIA unveiled CUDA-Q — their cloud solution designed to move algorithm discovery and dev from the physics lab to prod. Link to install via terminal HERE!

  • NVIDIA also unveiled their new CUDA-Q Academic platform, in partnership with universities across the US to bring QC to a classroom near you. The best part? The platform will be open to all students who want to integrate self-paced QC into their own curriculum. Apply for early access HERE!

Quantum Events Rundown:

  • Today March 20, 2024 12:00PM CST | FREE 2-Hour quantum computing workshop by Classiq Technologies

  • Ongoing - March 21st | FREE Virtual multiple-day NVIDIA GTC Conference 

    • If you can’t grab an in-person ticket (crying with you don’t worry) be sure to sign up for a virtual ticket (FREE) and attend any sessions that speak to your little nerd heart. Sessions you’ll catch me at today:

      • Integrating CUDA Quantum w/ Quantum Computers | 4:00am - 4:25am CST

      • Combining Quantum-based Models w/ ML Accelerates Drug Discovery | 5:00am - 5:25am CST

      • Mastering CUDA C++: Modern Best Practices w/ the CUDA C++ Core Libraries | 10:00am - 10:50am CST

      • What’s in Your CUDA Toolbox? CUDA Profiling, Optimization, and Debugging Tools | 1:00pm - 1:50pm CST

      • Tensor Network Simulation to Realize Quantum Machine Learning Models at Scale | 4:00pm - 4:50pm

QUANTUM CAREERS

Shape Your Quantum Journey

Career Opportunities:

Entry-Level:

Mid-Level:

Senior-Level: 

READER’S CORNER 

Today’s Query:

What is Quantum Supremacy?

the definitive point at which a quantum computer outperforms a classical computer on a particular problem

Upon achieving quantum supremacy, my quantum computer finally managed to outperform my old calculator, leaving it in a state of existential crisis about its purpose in life.

Calculators going the way of the typewriter | Image created with OpenAI's DALL·E

Send Us Your Queries, Qualms, and Quintessential Musings!

Email us at [email protected] to have your input featured.

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