Blog Post Four - Peer Reviewed Paper

I recently stumbled upon the an interesting research paper that discussed applications of quantum computing on social networks.

Here is a link to the article, for those who wish to view it before I discuss it: Applications of Social Network using Quantum Computing

The abstract of the paper describes how social networks (ie networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) have to handle an extremely large volume of data daily, due to thousands of new registrants to sites such as these. It is explained that to handle and compute data efficiently and fast, we need to employ faster computing devices than classical computing. This is because classical computing is reaching the point where it is no longer able to run computations against data stores and datasets as large as some of the data repositories that some social networks now utilize. The paper claims that "As quantum computing has the capable of complex computing with ease and efficient, the social network analysis seems to be appropriate application for such type of environment" (Roa 2015).

Depiction of Quantum Social Networks | Image Credit

The peer-reviewed paper then continues to provide justification for the problem by explaining what is wrong big-data computation by classical computers. Some of the information in the introduction is very similar to explanations I gave in my first blog post for the introduction into quantum computing. The paper first explains the architecture and mechanisms of a classical computer: "A classical computer has a memory made up of bits, i.e. 1 or 0 which are used for all the computational purposes. In terms of physical representation, each can be physically realized through a macroscopic physical system, such as the magnetization on a hard disk or the charge on a capacitor"(Roa 2015).

The article then explains the fundamental advantage gained from using quantum computers as opposed to regular computers. "If a document has n-characters to be stored on the hard disk of a typical computer can be described as a string of eight numbers of 0s and 1s. The classical computer obeys the laws of classical physics. Whereas the quantum computer obeys the laws of quantum mechanical phenomea. The data operations take place with the help of its superposition and entanglement. A quantum computer is a device that harnesses physical phenomenon unique to quantum mechanics (especially quantum interference) to realize a fundamentally new mode of information processing. Quantum computing is a quantum computational operations are executed on a very small number of qubits (quantum bits)" (Roa 2015).

In simpler terms, this quantum mechanism effectively allows us to compute these large sets of data while only using a small number of qubits, while still gaining the same performance that a significantly larger number of classical bits would yield. Of course, this means that we would have to write brand new code and architecture support for our social networks using these new technologies. In order to exploit the use of quantum machines, software must be written in ways that use quantum algorithm to conduct data analytics.

Comparison between quantum and classical computing (Roa 2015)

The research conducted concluded that " It is obvious that quantum computing will be a far better choice than traditional computing devices for complex and large data compilation with time constraints" (Roa 2015). It was concluded that having huge data set with a complex mapping in between the data will be an appropriate example for being getting executed in quantum computing environment. Social networks handle vast volumes of data and with passing of each day thousands of new entrants are joining the social sites, increasing the size of data.


Reference:
Roa, B., Mohapatra, Sonali., Saha, Ujjal., Mitra, Anirban. (2015). Applications of Social Network using Quantum Computing. ICIDRET.