Implementation of Shor’s Quantum Factoring Algorithm Using ProjectQ Framework

Abstract

Prime number factorization is a problem in computer science where the solution to that problem takes super-polynomial time classically. Shor’s quantum factoring algorithm is able to solve the problem in polynomial time by harnessing the power of quantum computing. The implementation of the quantum algorithm itself is not detailed by Shor in his paper. In this paper, an approach and experiment to implement Shor’s quantum factoring algorithm are proposed. The implementation is done using Python and a quantum computer simulator from ProjectQ. The testing and evaluation are completed in two computers with different hardware specifications. User time of the implementation is measured in comparison with other quantum computer simulators: ProjectQ and Quantum Computing Playground. This comparison was done to show the performance of Shor’s algorithm when simulated using different hardware. There is a 33% improvement in the execution time (user time) between the two computers with the accuracy of prime factorization in this implementation is inversely proportional to the number of qubits used. Further improvements upon the program that has been developed for this paper is its accuracy in terms of finding the factors of a number and the number of qubits used, as previously mentioned.