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Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Quantum Computing -- December 21, 2022

In the current issue of The New Yorker (paywall), December 19, 2022, in the annals of technology, "The future of everything: how the quantum computer will change the world," Stephen Witt, pp. 22 - 27.

Like al New Yorker articles, this is a very, very long essay. It is perhaps the best essay I've read on quantum computing. 

The essay begins:

On the outskirts of Santa Barbara, California, between the orchards and the ocean, sits an inconspicuous warehouse, its windows tinted brown and its exterior painted a dull gray. The facility has almost no signage, and its name doesn’t appear on Google Maps. A small label on the door reads “Google AI Quantum.” Inside, the computer is being reinvented from scratch.

In September, Hartmut Neven, the founder of the lab, gave me a tour.

In the middle of the warehouse floor, an apparatus the size and shape of a ballroom chandelier dangled from metal scaffolding. Bundles of cable snaked down from the top through a series of gold-plated disks to a processor below. The processor, named Sycamore, is a small, rectangular tile, studded with several dozen ports. Sycamore harnesses some of the weirdest properties of physics in order to perform mathematical operations that contravene all human intuition. Once it is connected, the entire unit is placed inside a cylindrical freezer and cooled for more than a day. The processor relies on superconductivity, meaning that, at ultracold temperatures, its resistance to electricity all but disappears. When the temperature surrounding the processor is colder than the deepest void of outer space, the computations can begin.

Classical computers speak in the language of bits, which take values of zero and one. Quantum computers, like the ones Google is building, use qubits, which can take a value of zero or one, and also a complex combination of zero and one at the same time. Qubits are thus exponentially more powerful than bits, able to perform calculations that normal bits can’t. But, because of this elemental change, everything must be redeveloped: the hardware, the software, the programming languages, and even programmers’ approach to problems.
Then, all of a sudden, on the fifth page of the essay:
In early 2020, scientists at Pfizer began producing hundreds of experimental pharmaceuticals intended to treat Covid-19.
That July, they synthesized seven milligrams of a research chemical labelled PF-07321332, one of twenty formulations the company produced that week. PF-07321332 remained an anonymous vial in a laboratory refrigerator until September, when experiments showed that it was effective at suppressing Covid-19 in rats.
The chemical was subsequently combined with another substance and rebranded as Paxlovid, a drug cocktail that reduces Covid-19-related hospitalizations by some ninety per cent.
Paxlovid is a lifesaver, but, with the assistance of a quantum computer, the laborious process of trial and error that led to its development might have been shortened.
“We are just guessing at things that can be directly designed,” the venture capitalist Peter Barrett, who is on the board of the startup PsiQuantum, told me.
“We’re guessing at things which our civilization entirely depends on—but that is by no means optimal.”
Fault-tolerant quantum computers should be able to simulate the molecular behavior of industrial chemicals with unprecedented precision, guiding scientists to faster results.
In 2019, researchers predicted that, with just a thousand fault-tolerant qubits, a method for producing ammonia for agricultural use, called the Haber-Bosch process, could be accurately modelled for the first time. An improvement to this process would lead to a substantial decrease in carbon-dioxide emissions.
Lithium, the primary component of batteries for electric cars, is a simple element with an atomic number of three. A fault-tolerant quantum computer, even a primitive one, might show how to expand its capacity to store energy, increasing vehicle range.
Quantum computers could be used to develop biodegradable plastics, or carbon-free aviation fuel. Another use, suggested by the consulting company McKinsey, was “simulating surfactants to develop a better carpet cleaner.” “We have good reason to believe that a quantum computer would be able to efficiently simulate any process that occurs in nature,” Preskill wrote, a few years ago.

But look at that, where I least expected to find a reference to Pfizer and there it popped up. 

Flash Freeze Is Starting -- December 21, 2002

My sister lives on Flathead Lake, Lakeside, Montana.

They are snowed in, as of overnight, and they have just lower power.

Their son works in Minneapolis, MN. He was scheduled to fly home to Montana today.

His flight from Minneapolis to Whitefish/Kalispell/Glacier Park International Airport, Montana, has been delayed until December 24, 2022. That's three days from now.

Late-Morning Notes -- December 21, 2022

Crypto: another one bites the dust.


Russian sanctions: previously posted from various sources. Link here.

DUCs -- The Bakken -- Through November, 2022


Bakken



Drilled

Completed

DUC

Dec-13

--

--

603

Jan-14

174

143

634

Feb-14

214

158

690

Mar-14

216

218

688

Apr-14

220

207

701

May-14

216

208

709

Jun-14

237

225

721

Jul-14

257

243

735

Aug-14

229

207

757

Sep-14

250

232

775

Oct-14

186

243

718

Nov-14

209

202

725

Dec-14

224

194

755

Jan-15

197

193

759

Feb-15

230

151

838

Mar-15

182

170

850

Apr-15

142

127

865

May-15

124

139

850

Jun-15

110

135

825

Jul-15

102

124

803

Aug-15

111

101

813

Sep-15

99

92

820

Oct-15

118

84

854

Nov-15

100

89

865

Dec-15

98

78

885

Jan-16

71

80

876

Feb-16

61

41

896

Mar-16

68

45

919

Apr-16

43

39

923

May-16

46

59

910

Jun-16

42

54

898

Jul-16

45

56

887

Aug-16

53

82

858

Sep-16

49

66

841

Oct-16

59

85

815

Nov-16

61

86

790

Dec-16

53

49

794

Jan-17

62

52

804

Feb-17

51

58

797

Mar-17

78

71

804

Apr-17

78

104

778

May-17

94

82

790

Jun-17

76

105

761

Jul-17

95

103

753

Aug-17

99

110

742

Sep-17

98

97

743

Oct-17

104

110

737

Nov-17

93

86

744

Dec-17

77

65

756

Jan-18

107

72

791

Feb-18

74

74

791

Mar-18

95

90

796

Apr-18

109

110

795

May-18

124

131

788

Jun-18

108

118

778

Jul-18

134

155

757

Aug-18

108

138

727

Sep-18

108

122

713

Oct-18

120

118

715

Nov-18

110

99

726

Dec-18

108

70

764

Jan-19

120

71

813

Feb-19

108

56

865

Mar-19

111

110

866

Apr-19

118

112

872

May-19

127

127

872

Jun-19

118

149

841

Jul-19

122

122

841

Aug-19

122

144

819

Sep-19

110

88

841

Oct-19

116

108

849

Nov-19

96

88

857

Dec-19

94

86

865

Jan-20

99

98

866

Feb-20

94

100

860

Mar-20

94

108

846

Apr-20

69

33

882

May-20

33

14

901

Jun-20

18

11

908

Jul-20

18

22

904

Aug-20

19

27

896

Sep-20

18

51

863

Oct-20

19

41

841

Nov-20

20

31

830

Dec-20

20

50

800

Jan-21

20

41

779

Feb-21

19

24

774

Mar-21

25

45

754

Apr-21

27

46

735

May-21

29

62

702

Jun-21

31

33

700

Jul-21

32

61

671

Aug-21

39

69

641

Sep-21

42

78

605

Oct-21

43

78

570

Nov-21

46

62

554

Dec-21

52

52

554

Jan-22

53

56

551

Feb-22

64

75

540

Mar-22

66

76

530

Apr-22

58

65

523

May-22

75

76

522

Jun-22

75

77

520

Jul-22

75

79

516

Aug-22

76

78

514

Sep-22

78

85

507

Oct-22

77

83

501

Nov-22

79

81

499