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Quantum computing and the entanglement frontier - Rapporteur talk at the 25th Solvay Conference
Quantum information science explores the frontier of highly complex quantum states,
the "entanglement frontier". This study is motivated by the observation (widely believed
but unproven) that classical systems cannot simulate highly entangled quantum systems
efficiently, and we hope to hasten the day when well controlled quantum systems can
perform tasks surpassing what can be done in the classical world. One way to achieve
such "quantum supremacy" would be to run an algorithm on a quantum computer which
solves a problem with a super-polynomial speedup relative to classical computers, but
there may be other ways that can be achieved sooner, such as simulating exotic quantum
states of strongly correlated matter. To operate a large scale quantum computer reliably
we will need to overcome the debilitating effects of decoherence, which might be done
using "standard" quantum hardware protected by quantum error-correcting codes, or by
exploiting the nonabelian quantum statistics of anyons realized in solid state systems,
or by combining both methods. Only by challenging the entanglement frontier will we
learn whether Nature provides extravagant resources far beyond what the classical world
would allow
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