From: Endlisnis <s257m AT unb DOT ca>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Quantum computers: was "allegro == or != programming"
Date: Sat, 08 Aug 1998 15:41:25 -0300
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Arthur wrote:

> > There is a kind of quantum transistor which could be constructed.  It
> > would produce
> > no heat and consume no energy.  It is based on the interference of
> > photons.  And it would
> > run decently close to the speed of light.
>
> But a physically perfect machine? So far there is no evidence that something can do
> work without losing some energy in the process, no matter how small. If it's based on
> the interference of photons then it could possibly lose energy through light
> emmissions.

    Well, the only way it would release heat would be a spontaneous change in momentum
(perfectly valid under hisenberg's uncertainty principle), but this loss is calculable
and is millions of times less than the energy lost in todays machines.  These quantum
transistors could be used to construct a processor that worked well up in the TeraHertz,
maybe even Exa range.

--
     (\/) Endlisnis (\/)
          s257m AT unb DOT ca
          Endlisnis AT GeoCities DOT com
          Endlis AT nbnet DOT nb DOT ca