Shor’s Quantum Factoring Algorithm on a Photonic Chip (Politi, pp. 1221-1222) WITH Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling (Kaufman, pp. 1236-1239) in Science 325, No. 5945, September 4, 2009
New York: AAAS, 2009. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF A SIGNIFICANT 2009 DEMONSTRATION OF SHOR’S QUANTUM FACTORING ALGORITHM ON A PHOTONICS CHIP; WITHBOUND, AN IMPORTANT STUDY ON GLOBAL WARMING.
In the FIRST paper, Politi and his team successfully realized a semiconductor-based quantum computer — quantum computing on integrated on an optical device. Named after the mathematician Peter Shor, Shor’s algorithm is a quantum algorithm — an algorithm that will run on a quantum computer. “Shor's quantum factoring algorithm finds the prime factors of a large number exponentially faster than any other known method, a task that lies at the heart of modern information security, particularly on the Internet. This algorithm requires a quantum computer, a device that harnesses the massive parallelism afforded by quantum superposition and entanglement of quantum bits (or qubits)” (Politi, Science, 2009, 1221).
Working at the University of Bristol in 2009, Politi’s team employed “a compiled version of Shor's algorithm on an integrated waveguide silica-on-silicon chip that guides four single-photon qubits through the computation to factor 1” (ibid). “The Bristol Centre for Quantum Photonics has demonstrated precise control of four photons using a microscopic metal electrode lithographically patterned onto a silicon chip. The photons propagate in silica waveguides — much like in optical fibres — patterned on a silicon chip, and are manipulated with the electrode, resulting in a high-performance miniaturized device” (Science Daily Portal, Manipulating Light, 2009).
Their work made it possible to generate and manipulate entangled states of photons on a silicon chip. “These entangled states are responsible for famously ‘weird’ behaviour arising in quantum mechanics, but are also at the heart of powerful quantum technologies (ibid).
SECOND PAPER: This paper “determined that temperatures in the Arctic are higher presently than they have been at any time in the previous 2,000 years. Samples from ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments from 23 sites were used by the team, led by Darrell Kaufman of Northern Arizona University, to provide snapshots of the changing climate” (Henkel, 21st Century Homestead, 225).
Kaufman’s work provided “a synthesis of available paleo-temperature records with decadal or annual resolution spanning the past two millennia for the Arctic” (Friesen, Oxford Handbook, 664). They “were able to track the summer Arctic temperatures as far back as the time of the Romans by studying natural signals in the landscape. The results highlighted that for around 1,900 years temperatures steadily dropped, caused by precession of earth’s orbit that caused the planet to be slightly farther away from the sun during summer in the Northern Hemisphere” (Derbyshire, “Arctic Ice Reveals…”, Daily Mail, 5 Sept. 2009). Item #956
CONDITION & DETAILS: New York: AAAS. Complete 1st edition in original wraps, complete. 8vo. Mailing label on the front wrap. Very slight scuffing. Very good to near fine condition.
Price: $300.00