[BIC-announce] (forw) REMINDER: November 6th: 2014/15 Anna I. McPherson Public Lecture

[Jean-Francois Malouin]

For those interested in quantum computing...

jf

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		      2014/15 Anna I. McPherson Lectures
			    Department of Physics
			      McGill University

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		      Thursday, November 6th 2014, 18:00
	   Stephen Leacock Building, Leacock Auditorium (room 132)
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		   Quantum computers and Schrödinger's cat

				David Wineland
				Nobel Laureate

		    NIST & University of Colorado, Boulder

As the size of computer logic gates and memory elements approaches the
atomic scale, we are forced to deal with the constraints imposed by the
laws of quantum mechanics. However, we now also know that a computer based
on quantum mechanics could solve certain problems that are intractable on
conventional computers. Interestingly, if this device could be made on a
large scale it would have the same characteristics as Erwin Schrödinger's
famous 1935 hypothetical cat that could be both dead and alive at the
same time. I will briefly relate how our group at NIST became involved in
these topics through our experiments on atomic ions, but these only serve
as examples of similar work being performed in many other laboratories
around the world.

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