

UCSB Researchers Demonstrate That 15=3x5 About Half of the Time  - denzil_correa
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2803

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cs702
The title of this submission does NOT do it justice. This looks rather
important to me: researchers at UCSB have apparently built a Quantum computer
that successfully executes Shor's Algorithm for factoring numbers into their
prime components. So far, they have successfully factored 15 into 3 and 5, but
according to the UCSB release, the system can be scaled up to factor
arbitrarily larger numbers.

If true, this has major implications for cryptography, because virtually all
modern encryption and hashing/signing algorithms in use today are based on the
assumption that factoring large numbers into their prime components is
computationally very costly.

Does anyone here have the expertise necessary to judge whether these results
are as ground-breaking as they look to me?

~~~
001sky
_To conduct the research, Lucero and his colleagues designed and fabricated a
quantum processor to map the problem of factoring the number 15 onto a
purpose-built superconducting quantum circuit._

\-- Is the superconducting element of the circuit - commercially feasible?
[serious question]

~~~
001sky
_If such a processor enters the market, traditional encrypting will be forced
to change completely. According to Lucero, the quantum processors power can be
used for both sides of the process, allowing “quantum cryptography” to replace
traditional RSA. Quantum encrypting would be more difficult to crack and far
easier to keep secure — Lucero says quantum cryptography systems immediately
notify both user and potential intruder when the system has been tampered
with. For example, Lucero said a voice conversation over quantum encrypted
lines would immediately become “jumbled” when a third party attempted to
access the system._

------
001sky
_Using a classical computer and the best-known classical algorithm, factoring
something like RSA Laboratory's largest published number –– which contains
over 600 decimal digits –– would take longer than the age of the universe, he
continued.

A quantum computer could reduce this wait time to a few tens of minutes._

\-- The synopsis.

