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Physics Today

Some curious facts about quantum factoring

N. David Mermin

Published Oct 1, 2007• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For six years before he retired last year, David Mermin taught quantum computation to Cornell University students of computer science. Google “CS483” for his lecture notes, where everything that he says can easily be shown is shown easily.
DOI
10.1063/1.2800253

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I am curious to hear David Mermin’s view, in light of his May 2009 Reference Frame, of Galileo’s condemnation by the church.That episode is still considered a scandal by most scientists. For example, several physicists cited the Galileo affair as their reason for opposing the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the University of Rome I (“La Sapienza”) last year.Could we perhaps say that Mermin would agree with those who refuse to recognize any objective truth in physical theories yet support them as useful descriptions of successions of events, thus condemning Galileo’s quest for ontologically realistic theories?Is the proposition that Earth travels around the Sun ultimately a mere calculational device?© 2009 American Institute of Physics.

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Two bits on qubits

David Mermin

Mermin replies: The enticing arguments that Dave Bacon tries so well to refute were not in my Reference Frame columns, which I’m delighted he enjoyed. The point is put best in my new book, 1 1. N. D. Mermin, Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2007), p. 3. where I also note that q-bit would indeed be better than Qbit, were it not that common expressions such as 2-Qbit gate fail to work when written in the form 2-q-bit gate. To solve the problem, I drop Dirac’s hyphen but put Q in uppercase (which the qbit Bacon wrongly attributes to me does not) to emphasize that it functions as the name of a letter and not as part of another grotesquely spelled word. Qbit for the quantum object parallels the equally important Cbit for the classical object (clbit would be ridiculous). The capitalization convention gives rise to the useful term Bit, which refers collectively to both kinds of physical objects, as opposed to bit, which refers only to a number that can be 0 or 1.I agree with Bacon that qubit has achieved its current status because of its spurious resemblance to cubit, 2 2. Ref. 1, p. 4. but I do not agree that the foot deserves to die. It should be redefined 5 millimeters downward to a light nanosecond 3 3. N. D. Mermin, It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity, Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ (2005), p. 22. a couple of years after our backward nation finally goes metric, which I confidently expect to happen in a century or two.Setting aside the fact that transliterations of foreign proper nouns notoriously violate all kinds of rules, I note that Qumran is pronounced k’mran. This class of examples would require qubit to be pronounced k’bit.It may be quixotic (but certainly not Qxotic) to try to correct the spelling of an entire community, but I owe it my best shot. What else is retirement good for?REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. N. D. Mermin, Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2007), p. 3. Google ScholarCrossref2. Ref. 1, p. 4. Google Scholar3. N. D. Mermin, It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity, Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ (2005), p. 22. Google Scholar© 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Physics Today•Mar 1, 2008•2 citations
I am curious to hear David Mermin’s view, in light of his May 2009 Reference Frame, of Galileo’s condemnation by the church.That episode is still considered a scandal by most scientists. For example, several physicists cited the Galileo affair as their reason for opposing the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the University of Rome I (“La Sapienza”) last year.Could we perhaps say that Mermin would agree with those who refuse to recognize any objective truth in physical theories yet support them as useful descriptions of successions of events, thus condemning Galileo’s quest for ontologically realistic theories?Is the proposition that Earth travels around the Sun ultimately a mere calculational device?© 2009 American Institute of Physics.
In the 1990's it was realized that quantum physics has some spectacular applications in computer science. This book is a concise introduction to quantum computation, developing the basic elements of this new branch of computational theory without assuming any background in physics. It begins with an introduction to the quantum theory from a computer-science perspective. It illustrates the quantum-computational approach with several elementary examples of quantum speed-up, before moving to the major applications: Shor's factoring algorithm, Grover's search algorithm, and quantum error correction. The book is intended primarily for computer scientists who know nothing about quantum theory, but will also be of interest to physicists who want to learn the theory of quantum computation, and philosophers of science interested in quantum foundational issues. It evolved during six years of teaching the subject to undergraduates and graduate students in computer science, mathematics, engineering, and physics, at Cornell University.
Mermin replies: The enticing arguments that Dave Bacon tries so well to refute were not in my Reference Frame columns, which I’m delighted he enjoyed. The point is put best in my new book, 1 1. N. D. Mermin, Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2007), p. 3. where I also note that q-bit would indeed be better than Qbit, were it not that common expressions such as 2-Qbit gate fail to work when written in the form 2-q-bit gate. To solve the problem, I drop Dirac’s hyphen but put Q in uppercase (which the qbit Bacon wrongly attributes to me does not) to emphasize that it functions as the name of a letter and not as part of another grotesquely spelled word. Qbit for the quantum object parallels the equally important Cbit for the classical object (clbit would be ridiculous). The capitalization convention gives rise to the useful term Bit, which refers collectively to both kinds of physical objects, as opposed to bit, which refers only to a number that can be 0 or 1.I agree with Bacon that qubit has achieved its current status because of its spurious resemblance to cubit, 2 2. Ref. 1, p. 4. but I do not agree that the foot deserves to die. It should be redefined 5 millimeters downward to a light nanosecond 3 3. N. D. Mermin, It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity, Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ (2005), p. 22. a couple of years after our backward nation finally goes metric, which I confidently expect to happen in a century or two.Setting aside the fact that transliterations of foreign proper nouns notoriously violate all kinds of rules, I note that Qumran is pronounced k’mran. This class of examples would require qubit to be pronounced k’bit.It may be quixotic (but certainly not Qxotic) to try to correct the spelling of an entire community, but I owe it my best shot. What else is retirement good for?REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. N. D. Mermin, Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction, Cambridge U. Press, New York (2007), p. 3. Google ScholarCrossref2. Ref. 1, p. 4. Google Scholar3. N. D. Mermin, It’s About Time: Understanding Einstein’s Relativity, Princeton U. Press, Princeton, NJ (2005), p. 22. Google Scholar© 2008 American Institute of Physics.