Quantum computer gets closer to reality

John Horgan

Nancy Forbes, Seth Lloyd

Susan M. Reiss

Charles Q. Choi

The dream of a space-based, nighunhackable quantum Internet may now be closer to reality, thanks to new experiments with Chinese and Europeansatellites. Quantum physics makes possible a strange phenomenon known as entanglement. Essentially, two or more particles such as photons that get linked or "entangled" can, in theory, influence each other simultaneously no matter how far apart they are. Entanglement is essential to the workings of quantum computers, the networks that would connect them, and the most sophisticated kinds of quantum cryptography-a theoretically unhackable means of information exchange.

Ed Gerck

We hope this work allows one to calculate large prime numbers directly, not by trial-and-error, but following a physical law. We report—contrary to conventional assumptions—that differentiation of discontinuous functions (DDF) exists in the set Q, which becomes central to algorithms for quantum computation. DDF have been thought to exist not in the classical sense, but using distributions. However, DDF using distributions still is defined in terms of mathematical real-numbers (MRN), and do not address the Problem of Closure, here investigated. These facts lead to contradictions using MRN, solved by this work, providing a new unbounded class of physical solutions using physical numbers in quantum mechanics (QM), that were always there (just hidden), allowing DDF without distributions, or MRN. It is worthwhile to see this only in mathematics, to avoid the prejudices found in physics, as this reforms both general relativity and QM. This confirms the opinions of Nicolas Gisin that MRN are non-computable with probability 1, and Niels Bohr that physics is not reality, it is a fitting story about reality. Mathematics can get closer to reality, surprisingly. We just have to base mathematics on nature, not on how it defines nature.