Kwantumberekening

Abstract

Daar is geen gebrek aan dekking in die laaste paar jaar in wetenskaplike joernale van die onderwerp van kwantumberekening nie. Tereg ook, want dit is ’n nuwe idee met—tot sover—minstens ´ e´ en baie belangrike praktiese toepassing (ontbinding in priemfaktore) sodra die tegnologie redelik omvattende berekenings kan hanteer. Die belangstelling in kwantumverwerking is aangevuur deur beide die besef dat die toenemende miniaturisering noodwendig rekenaarwetenskaplikes met kwantumverskynsels sal konfronteer, en deur die begryp van die potensiaal van massief parallelle verwerking deur die gebruik maak van die Hilbert-ruimtevoorstelling van kwantumstelsels en die spesiale eienskappe van kwantumverstrengeling. Die onderwerp lˆ e by die sameloop van fisika, rekenaarwetenskap en wiskunde en hierdie bydrae verken die idees van di´ e drie gebiede wat die belangrikste rol in kwantumberekening speel en besin oor die definisies van en die waarskynlike gebruik vir kwantumverwerking asook sy verhouding tot die klassieke berekeningskompleksiteit. Ten slotte word ’n uitgebreide geannoteerde bibliografie verskaf as gids vir die ge¨ ınteresseerde leser tot die literatuur in di´ e onderwerp.

Abstract

Quantum computing

There has been no lack of coverage in the past few years in scientific journals of the topic of quantum computation. Rightly so, as this is a novel idea with—so far—at least one very important practical application (prime factorisation) as soon as the technology can accommodate reasonably sized computations. Interest in quantum computing has been sparked by both the realization that increasing miniaturisation will eventually bring computer scientists face-to-face with quantum effects, and by the grasping of the potential for massive parallelism inherent in the Hilbert space representation of quantum systems and in the special effects of quantum entanglement. The topic lies at the confluence of physics, computer science and mathematics and this contribution reviews the ideas from these three fields that play the most important role in quantum computation and reflects on the definitions of and prospective use for quantum computing as well as its relation to classical computational complexity. Finally, an extended annotated bibliography is provided as a guide for the interested reader to the literature in the subject.