A Control Look at Quantum Computing [About this Issue]

Paola Zizzi, Massimo Pregnolato

We discuss the modalities by which we humans should (and in fact, do) compute. That is, we investigate about the logical languages and the computational modes of human reasoning, and the corresponding physical interpretation. In this context, however, the classical world (physical, logical, and computational) does not seem sufficient to give a complete description of the Mind. In fact, the Mind accomplishes different tasks, where it exhibits, alternatively, both classical and quantum features. There are some novelties in two important issues: the long-standing debate on the mind-body relationship, and Turing’s question about a possible identification of the Mind with a computer. The introduction of a quantum metalanguage (QML) for the logic of reasoning is the most important feature to deal with both issues. As far as the first issue is considered, the QML is physically interpreted as a Dissipative Quantum Field Theory (DQFT) of the brain. The corresponding quantum object-language (QOL), which is the logic of reasoning, and is controlled by the QML, is physically interpreted as the Quantum Mechanics of qubits, that is, Quantum Computing (QC). Therefore, the Mind is both language and metalanguage, and the brain is its physical interpretation.

Debabrata Ghoshal, Richard B. Gomez, Marco O. Lanzagorta +1 more

Travis S. Humble, Erik P. DeBenedictis

In this issue, we take a look at quantum computing: what has been accomplished and what is its future. We present a collection of views about the realistic challenges facing the future of quantum computing.

David S. Simon

Alice Flarend, Bob Hilborn

Abstract This chapter examines several fundamental quantum issues. Although not strictly needed for quantum information science (QIS) and quantum computing (QC), these issues help the reader understand why QC provides capabilities that go far beyond those of classical computers. The chapter begins with a look at a specific instantiation of Bell’s theorem and why, nearly 60 years after its publication, it continues to roil discussions about the foundations of quantum mechanics and the implications for what we can say about the physical nature of the world. Equally controversial, at the foundational level, is the problem of describing quantum measurements and their probabilistic results. The discussion shows that entanglement issues lie at the core of many of the debates about measurement and that correlations among measurement outcomes can reveal entanglement. Finally, the fragility of actual quantum systems that could interact with their environments causes decoherence. While this is a problem for QC, it could be useful in quantum sensing.