[107748] in Cypherpunks
CDR: update.411 (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Choate)
Fri Jan 22 08:46:40 1999
From: Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com>
To: cypherpunks@EINSTEIN.ssz.com
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 07:21:06 -0600 (CST)
Reply-To: Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com>
----- Forwarded message from AIP listserver -----
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 15:00:01 -0500 (EST)
From: AIP listserver <physnews@aip.org>
Subject: update.411
PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
Number 411 January 19, 1999 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben
Stein
QUANTUM GAMES. Star Trek's Captain Picard (fictional
commander of the USS Enterprise) and Q (his mischievous, all
-powerful adversary) are beamed onto the pages of Physical Review
Letters for the first time to engage in a hypothetical contest that
represents the extension of game theory to the quantum world.
With these characters, physicist David Meyer of the math
department (Project in Geometry and Physics) at UC-San Diego
(619-534-5524; dmeyer@chonji.ucsd.edu) illustrates how playing
nanoscopic versions of familiar games with atoms (or any other
object which obeys the peculiar rules of quantum mechanics) may
reveal new information-processing tasks (beyond already known
ones) that quantum computers would perform more efficiently than
classical computers. In Meyer's scenario, Q promises Picard that
he will help get the Enterprise out of its latest emergency if Picard
wins a game. Specifically, the contest amounts to a quantum
version of a penny-flipping game, in which an atomic nucleus with
"spin-up" and "spin-down" energy states takes the place of the
familiar zinc coin with heads and tails. Through this game, Meyer
shows that players like Q who exploit the unique properties of
quantum-mechanical objects (such as the ability to put it in a
simultaneous combination or "superposition" of two states) enjoy a
distinct advantage over those who (like Picard) just treat the
objects like everyday items such as balls or coins (which can only
be in one state or the other). Through his use of superpositions, Q
manipulates the nucleus in such a way that ensures he always wins,
even though the chances of winning the classical version of the
game are only 50-50. Such a contest, Meyer points out, can be
easily demonstrated with existing quantum computers, and may
provide insights on such things as quantum-error correction.
(Upcoming article in Physical Review Letters; as usual, journalists
can obtain the article from AIP Public Information.)
X RAYS IN, GAMMA RAYS OUT. A laser is a machine for
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