Related papers: The universe as quantum computer
Recent theoretical results confirm that quantum theory provides the possibility of new ways of performing efficient calculations. The most striking example is the factoring problem. It has recently been shown that computers that exploit…
On the basis that the universe is a closed quantum system with no external observers, we propose a paradigm in which the universe jumps through a series of stages. Each stage is defined by a quantum state, an information content, and rules…
This paper reviews connections between physics and computation, and explores their implications. The main topics are computational "hardness" of physical systems, computational status of fundamental theories, quantum computation, and the…
Quantum computers take advantage of interfering quantum alternatives in order to handle problems that might be too time consuming with algorithms based on classical logic. Developing quantum computers requires new ways of thinking beyond…
Suspicions that the world might be some sort of a machine or algorithm existing ``in the mind'' of some symbolic number cruncher have lingered from antiquity. Although popular at times, the most radical forms of this idea never reached…
There is compelling theoretical evidence that quantum physics will change the face of information science. Exciting progress has been made during the last two decades towards the building of a large scale quantum computer. A quantum group…
Some principles underpinning the running of the Universe are discussed. The most important, the machine principle, states that the Universe is a fully autonomous, self-organizing and self-testing quantum automaton. Continuous space and…
In the last few years, theoretical study of quantum systems serving as computational devices has achieved tremendous progress. We now have strong theoretical evidence that quantum computers, if built, might be used as a dramatically…
Quantum information processing is the use of inherently quantum mechanical phenomena to perform information processing tasks that cannot be achieved using conventional classical information technologies. One famous example is quantum…
Quantum computation is a novel way of information processing which allows, for certain classes of problems, exponential speedups over classical computation. Various models of quantum computation exist, such as the adiabatic, circuit and…
In order to relate the probabilistic predictions of quantum theory uniquely to measurement results, one has to conceive of an ensemble of identically prepared copies of the quantum system under study. Since the universe is the total domain…
Quantum computing is a new model of computation, based on quantum physics. Quantum computers can be exponentially faster than conventional computers for problems such as factoring. Besides full-scale quantum computers, more restricted…
Numerical simulation of quantum systems is crucial to further our understanding of natural phenomena. Many systems of key interest and importance, in areas such as superconducting materials and quantum chemistry, are thought to be described…
We discuss an apparent information paradox that arises in a materialist's description of the Universe if we assume that the Universe is 100% quantum. We discuss possible ways out of the paradox, including that Laws of Nature are not purely…
Quantum computers are becoming real, and they have the inherent potential to significantly impact many application domains. We sketch the basics about programming quantum computers, showing that quantum programs are typically hybrid…
More than a speculative technology, quantum computing seems to challenge our most basic intuitions about how the physical world should behave. In this thesis I show that, while some intuitions from classical computer science must be…
The quantum computer is supposed to process information by applying unitary transformations to the complex amplitudes defining the state of N qubits. A useful machine needing N=1000 or more, the number of continuous parameters describing…
We review some of the well-known features of quantum cosmology, such as the factor ordering problem, the wave function and the density matrix, for a dark energy dominated universe, where analytical solutions can be obtained. For the…
A physical system is determined by a finite set of initial conditions and "laws" represented by equations. The system is computable if we can solve the equations in all instances using a "finite body of mathematical knowledge". In this…
Quantum computers are hypothetical devices, based on quantum physics, that would enable us to perform certain computations hundreds of orders of magnitude faster than digital computers. This feature is coined as "quantum supremacy" and one…