Why We Should Be Skeptical of Quantum Computing
Abstract
It is widely believed that quantum computing is on the threshold of practicality, with performance that will soon greatly surpass that of classical computing. On the contrary, I argue that quantum computing does not currently exist, and probably never will. First, although quantum annealing systems have been demonstrated to solve practical optimization problems, they are actually performing classical analog annealing, with no quantum enhancement. In contrast, while systems of quantum gate arrays, which are expected to perform digital quantum computing, have been fabricated with up to ~ 100 qubits in several technologies, they have not performed any practical computations. This is not merely a question of excess noise; the theory of massive quantum entanglement, necessary for the desired performance, has never been actually been verified. The well-established quantum results such as electronic energy bands do not incorporate quantum entanglement. I suggest that the experimental observations in multi-qubit systems may be explained as the result of delocalized coupled oscillator modes, similar to that in electronic energy bands. Such coupled modes would not yield the exponential increase in degrees of freedom needed for quantum speedup, and hence would not be useful for computing. Tests on these multi-qubit systems should be able to distinguish these two models. The quantum computing research community really needs to address this issue.
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