In this paper we raise questions about the reality of computational quantum parallelism. Such questions are important because while quantum theory is rigorously established, the hypothesis that it supports a more powerful model of computation remains speculative. More specifically, we suggest the possibility that the seeming computational parallelism offered by quantum superpositions is actually effected by gate-level parallelism in the reversible implementation of the quantum operator. In other words, when the total number of logic operations is analyzed, quantum computing may not be more powerful than classical. This fact has significant public policy implications with regard to the relative levels of effort that are appropriate for the development of quantumparallel algorithms and associated hardware (i.e., qubit-based) versus quantum-scale classical hardware.

Date Published: 3 April 2008
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 6976, Quantum Information and Computation VI, 69760W (3 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.778019

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6976:
Quantum Information and Computation VI
Eric J. Donkor; Andrew R. Pirich; Howard E. Brandt, Editor(s)