Do we need quantum for quantum computing?

Abstract

The concept of quantum computing has arisen as a methodology by which very rapid computations can be achieved. There also has been considerable discussion about physical implementations of the qubit. This has led, in recent years, to a situation in which quantum computing and quantum information theory are being rapidly developed. In general, the specific advantages offered by quantum computing have been somewhat nebulous. On the one hand, faster computing was promised, but we now know that no speedup of most algorithms exists relative the speed that can be obtained with massive parallel processing. Then, we are promised that the use of entanglement will make quantum computing possible with a much smaller use of resources. Yet, entanglement must be viewed as a hidden variable, which is not accessible in experiment. How does this provide the speedup? We have suggested that analog processing may provide a suitable alternative, and may be the basis which provides the speedup in quantum computing, but this is a controversial assertion. In this talk, we will discuss these particular viewpoints, along with several approaches to a wave basis for (quantum) computing.