Star Wars, Star Trek, and Wing Commander - 3-Dimensional Space combat

I caught this article on gizmodo.com today and thought it was one of the more interesting mental exercises I have seen dealing with the subject. You can read it here. Enjoy

Cool Flash Game

I just recently used Adobe Flash for the first time working on our corporate intranet portal. It was an interesting experience. With that in mind, I ran across this game this morning and it struck my fancy so I thought I'd share it. You can find it here. It reminded me of those flat square number puzzles I used to play with as a kid. I LOVED those things.

For the Math Geeks out there...

Ran across this on Hacker News this morning. This is a link to 100 Open Source lectures for Math Geeks. Everything from Algebra to Calculus, to the math in Engineering and Physics as well as teaching mathematics. Several of these series look pretty cool. Check it out for yourself if you've a mind.

Zombies and Math. What could go wrong?

I saw this on Hacker News today and it just spoke to me. As an engineer, I love to understand how things work. So, when someone wants to mathematically explain how a zombie apocalypse works, I'm all over it. You can be too, here. And to top it off, its a college paper. How cool is that?

The Sci-Fi Prophet...

To all those that know me well, you know that one of my favorite authors is William Gibson. I find it fascinating how he has used fictional tech in his books and how it has "come to life". In his book All Tomorrow's Parties, he has done it again. I am used to seeing this done in SLA modeling for prototype manufacturing applications, but this takes it a step further and uses actual plastic resin to make the parts. Check out the link here. It's REALLY cool stuff...

Book Review - Panzer Commander

For those that know me, I am an amateur WWII historian. My interests are based in the European theatre, both the German conquest of 1938 and 1939, the Russian campaign in 1941 and 1942, and the subsequent Allied invasion in 1944 and 1945. As such, I am always on the lookout for new books that appeal to my historical tastes.

I had the pleasure of finishing a new book this afternoon. Based on recommendations from the Gamesquad ASL forums (a WWII tactical level board wargame and my other main hobby), I picked up Panzer Commander, by Hans von Luck. Hans von Luck was the commander of the 7th and 21st panzer divisions under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. As a strict study of tactical doctrine, the book is somewhat lacking. I had hoped for a little more in that arena. However, it was an extremely pleasant read. I am a big fan of the writing style of Stephen Ambrose and this book presented his history and doings in much the same vein. I was particularly struck with the sentiment (and I have seen it in other books) of camraderie between former enemies (soldiers from different armies): German and Russian, German and American, German and French, and German and British. Having never been in the military, the respect that seems to exist, even for enemies, between professional soldiers is very appealing. The distinction between the Weremacht and the SS also struck me as profound, and seemed to be readily accepted, even by von Luck's Russian captors.

If you are looking for a strict study of tactical/strategic doctrine, I'd suggest that you keep looking - there are other books out there that cover the subject better (BH Liddel Hart's "Strategy" for one). If you want a decent feel of what being a officer in the German Army during WWII was like, this is an excellent read.

Quantum Computing article...

I am a huge fan of the concept of quantum computing simply because I liked thinking about some of this stuff in physics and physical chemistry. Ran across this article this morning in Hacker News and figured I'd share. Enjoy!

Spooky computers closer to reality

Solid-state quantum processing demonstrated.

Katharine Sanderson

The new processor takes advantage of quantum entanglement.Alamy

The computers of tomorrow could be quantum not classical, using the quantum world's strange properties to vastly increase memory and speed up information processing. But making quantum computing parts from standard kit has proved difficult so far.

Now physicist Leonardo DiCarlo of Yale University, New Haven, and his colleagues have made the first solid-state quantum processor, using similar techniques to the silicon chip industry. The processor has used programs called quantum algorithms to solve two different problems. The work is published in Nature¹.

Classical systems use a series of 0s and 1s, or bits, to convey information. Two bits, for example can be combined as either 00, 11, 01 or 10. But quantum systems have a property called superposition, where all these combinations can exist at once. This vastly increases the amount of information that can be stored and the speed at which it can be processed.

Quantum bits, or qubits, can also be entangled — the state of one qubit influences the state of another even at a considerable distance. A quantum computer would use entangled qubits to process information.

Solid work

Quantum algorithms have been processed before, but only in exotic systems using lasers or ions suspended with strong magnets. To make something more similar to a computer, a solid-state system is needed.

DiCarlo made his device out of two transmon qubits. These are tiny pieces of a superconducting material consisting of a niobium film on an aluminium oxide wafer with gaps etched into it. A current can 'tunnel' across these gaps — another special property of the quantum world, where waves and particles can cross barriers without breaching them. The two qubits are separated by a cavity that contains microwaves, and the whole system connected to an electric current.

“The appeal of our processor is that it is an all-solid-state device.”

Leonardo DiCarlo
Yale University

"The appeal of our processor is that it is an all-solid-state device," says DiCarlo. It was made using standard industrial techniques. But the analogy with ordinary computers shouldn't be overstretched, he cautions — the device works at just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero and requires special refrigeration technology.

The researchers controlled the system using a microwave 'tone' with a frequency that causes the qubits to become entangled. A voltage pulse is then applied to control how long the two qubits remain entangled and in their superpositional state. Longer entanglement allows the qubits to process more complex problems.

DiCarlo was able to keep the qubits entangled for a microsecond, which is the state of the art, he says.

Qubit calling

The system processed two algorithms written specially for quantum systems.

The first is Grover's search algorithm, also known as the reverse phone book search, where someone's number is known but not the name. The processor essentially reads all the numbers in the phone book at once to find the single correct answer. "At the end the qubit will be in one state, not superposed, and that's the answer," says DiLorio.

The second, more simple, algorithm, the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm, tests whether the flip of a coin is fair or not.

DiCarlo's processor got the reverse phone book search right an impressive 80% of the time and the coin-flip algorithm right about 90% of the time.

To read out the answer, DiCarlo used a microwave tone at the same frequency as the cavity in the system. "Depending what state the qubit is in, the cavity will resonate at a certain frequency. If the tone is transmitted through the cavity, we know it's in the right state," he says.

But this technique could not read out the answer in a system with many more qubits, says quantum-computing expert Hans Mooij from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The development of the processor is good news Mooij adds. "This is a necessary step," he says. "If this can be done, the next thing can be done."

DiCarlo is cautious. "We've made a very simple quantum processor," he says. "It's by no means a quantum computer."

He is working to give the processor more qubits, and so more processing power. He thinks that scaling up to three or four quibits will be relatively straightforward, but beyond that the problem becomes a lot harder, and the coherence time needed will be very difficult to attain. Mooij agrees: "From three or four to ten they will need to make a big step again."

• References

  1. DiCarlo, L. et al, Nature, doi:10.10383/nature08121 (2009)