Factoring Large Numbers With Quantum Physics

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Bayes The Engineer Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Albany, New York Posts: 5060 Good Answers: 129	Factoring Large Numbers With Quantum Physics 11/29/2016 9:00 AM
	I came across this really interesting article and figured I'd pass it along. It talks about factoring very large numbers by reading the energy levels of quantum systems that model the factorization! Reducing a number into its prime factors today can be computationally expensive if the number is large. That's why it is used in encryption. Here are some examples of prime factors. Notice how quickly they can become complicated... 12 = 2x2x3 21 = 3x7 100 = 5x5x2x2 110 = 11x5x2 1000 = 2x2x2x5x5x5 11,397 = 3x29x31 20,000 = 2x2x2x2x2x5x5x5x5 Here is an online calculator for finding prime factors (keep in mind this calculator is pulling from a database, not calculating them in real time, thus the limit on what can be entered). Try calculating some yourself. The article can be found here.
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Rixter Guru Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: About 4000 miles from the center of the earth (+/-100 mi) Posts: 9912 Good Answers: 1141	#1 Re: Factoring Large Numbers With Quantum Physics 11/29/2016 10:42 AM
	This is a big deal. RSA encryption is based on the trapdoor algorithm based on the difficulty of factoring very large numbers. When quantum computers are scaled up to the point where very large numbers can be factored using Shor's algorithm, the security of RSA encryption will be undermined. It's not just state secrets that are protected by encryption. Financial data and transactions are protected by encryption and almost everyone would be personally affected if the RSA encryption is easily cracked. http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/encryptionbusting-quantum-computer-practices-factoring-in-scalable-fiveatom-experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor's_algorithm http://news.mit.edu/2016/quantum-computer-end-encryption-schemes-0303
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dkwarner Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: Placerville, CA (38° 45N, 120° 47'W) Posts: 6215 Good Answers: 248	#2 In reply to #1 Re: Factoring Large Numbers With Quantum Physics 11/30/2016 11:25 PM
	Thanks for the links - they helped understand the significance of the work. ...but I'm afraid there is still no hope for me to truly understand Quantum physics or quantum computers! __________________ Teaching is a great experience, but there is no better teacher than experience.
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James Stewart Guru Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Lubbock, Texas Posts: 14331 Good Answers: 162	#3 Re: Factoring Large Numbers With Quantum Physics 12/01/2016 4:37 PM
	I wish there was time during my schedule to permit me to read up on this. Thank you for posting, and it is of interest to all. __________________ If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just build a better one.
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