Could be used on near-term quantum machines: The authors of the paper, published in Nature, said research shows quantum computers have the potential to solve problems better than classical computing techniques, but the resource requirements of known quantum algorithms for these problems put them far out of reach of quantum machines that exist now or in the near term.However, the researchers, who were from JPMorganChase, Quantinuum, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Texas at Austin, said their solution shows current and near term gate-based quantum computers can perform at least one practically useful task: Creating truly random numbers.The team did it by creating a protocol that ran over the internet on a 56-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer from US-based Quantinuum. According to a statement from JPMorganChase, the researchers leveraged a task originally designed to demonstrate quantum advantage, known as Random Circuit Sampling (RCS), to perform a certified-randomness-expansion protocol, which outputs more randomness than it takes as input. This task, they said, is unachievable by classical computation.
Certified randomness: The ideal kind of randomness would have the following three characteristics, JPMorganChase said in a blog post:
- It comes from a verifiably trusted source.It comes with rigorous mathematical guarantees.It could not have been manipulated by a malicious adversary.
It is known as Certified Randomness. And, said the post, “as it turns out, such a protocol is impossible to realize using conventional computers but can be accomplished using a quantum computer.”The team’s protocol consisted of two steps. First, it generated challenge random circuits (quantum programs are called circuits) and sent them to the untrusted remote quantum computer, which was then asked to return the resulting “random” numbers. This methodology was also tested against the best currently known techniques for simulating random circuits on the world’s most powerful conventional supercomputers; while the quantum run time per challenge was about two seconds, the team estimated that the challenge circuits could only be simulated classically in about 100 seconds. Then, to verify that true random numbers had been generated, the randomness of the results was mathematically certified to be genuine using classical supercomputers at the US Department of Energy.”When I first proposed my certified randomness protocol in 2018, I had no idea how long I’d need to wait to see an experimental demonstration of it,” Scott Aaronson, Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science and director of the Quantum Information Center at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that JPMorganChase and Quantinuum have now built upon the original protocol and realized it. This is a first step toward using quantum computers to generate certified random bits for actual cryptographic applications.”
First seen on csoonline.com
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