Book Image

Dancing with Qubits

By : Robert S. Sutor
5 (1)
Book Image

Dancing with Qubits

5 (1)
By: Robert S. Sutor

Overview of this book

Quantum computing is making us change the way we think about computers. Quantum bits, a.k.a. qubits, can make it possible to solve problems that would otherwise be intractable with current computing technology. Dancing with Qubits is a quantum computing textbook that starts with an overview of why quantum computing is so different from classical computing and describes several industry use cases where it can have a major impact. From there it moves on to a fuller description of classical computing and the mathematical underpinnings necessary to understand such concepts as superposition, entanglement, and interference. Next up is circuits and algorithms, both basic and more sophisticated. It then nicely moves on to provide a survey of the physics and engineering ideas behind how quantum computing hardware is built. Finally, the book looks to the future and gives you guidance on understanding how further developments will affect you. Really understanding quantum computing requires a lot of math, and this book doesn't shy away from the necessary math concepts you'll need. Each topic is introduced and explained thoroughly, in clear English with helpful examples.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Preface
13
Afterword

7.8 Summary

The quantum states of a qubit are the unit vectors in C2, where we identify two states as being equivalent if they differ only by a multiple of a complex unit. To better visualize actions on a qubit, we introduced the Bloch sphere in R3 and showed where special orthonormal bases map onto the sphere.

Any new idea seems to deserve its own notation and we did not disappoint when we introduced Dirac’s bra-ket representation of vectors. This significantly simplifies calculation when working with multiple qubits.

Given the ket form of qubit states, we introduced the standard 1-qubit gate operations. In the classical case in section 2.4 not. In the quantum case, there are many, in fact an infinite number, of single qubit operations.

We next look at how to work with two or more qubits and the quantum gates that operate on them. We also introduce entanglement, an essential notion from quantum mechanics.

References

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