In a paper to be published in the Science journal, the research team of IQC Associate Professor Andrew Childs, post-doctoral fellow David Gosset and PhD student Zak Webb propose that multi-particle quantum walks can be used for universal computation. A multi-particle quantum walk is when particles live on the vertices of a graph and can move between vertices joined by an edge which enables nearby particles to interact with each other
In contrast to traditional descriptions of the functionality of quantum bits, or "qubits", a quantum algorithm can be installed by letting the qubits "walk" on a defined graph without the need to control them. The scientists said that the idea is analogous to "a billiard-ball computer where classical logic gates are performed using collisions."
Most interestingly, the iCQ model claims to scalable and overcome one of the most critical problems in quantum computing research today. Associate professor Andrew Childs stated that his teams is identifying "the requirements to implement quantum walks so they have the potential for significant quantum speedup, paving the way for scalable future experiments."
"In principle we can cast any quantum algorithm into this model," Childs said. In future work, Childs said that he is interested in applying the model to develop new quantum algorithms and to study problems in quantum computational complexity.
