PQI2020 Lecture: Scott Aaronson on Quantum Computing

Dr. Scott J. Aaronson, David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, gave the PQI2020 Public Lecture.

Last fall, a team at Google announced the first-ever demonstration of "quantum computational supremacy"---that is, a clear quantum speedup over a classical computer for some task---using a 53-qubit programmable superconducting chip called Sycamore. In addition to engineering, Google's accomplishment built on a decade of research in quantum complexity theory. This talk will discuss questions like: what exactly was the contrived problem that Google solved? How does one verify the outputs using a classical computer? And how confident are we that the problem is classically hard---especially in light of subsequent counterclaims by IBM? He'll end with a proposed application for Google's experiment---namely, the generation of certified random bits, for use (for example) in proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies---that he has been developing and that Google is now working to demonstrate.