I failed a course, and the system became my study supervisor.

Chapter 17 Current Status and Prospects of Quantum Computing
Thursday afternoon.

The report started at two o'clock. Xu Ling and Lin Yuxin arrived at the auditorium door at one fifty, ten minutes early, but they were stunned by the excitement of the scene.

In front of the auditorium's north and south doors, queues stretched dozens of meters long. They weren't waiting to get in; the lines kept moving, but even after a while, they didn't seem to get any shorter.

Seeing this, Xu Ling and the other person quickly lined up nearby. Because the entrance required a campus card, the line, which stretched several dozen meters, took them nearly five minutes to complete.

After entering the door, Xu Ling thought everything was fine, but he found that he was too happy too early.

The nearly two thousand seats in the auditorium are now almost full, with only a few empty seats in the middle of some rows.

There are still quite a few empty seats in the first row. But do you want to go?
"Lin Yuxin, do you want to go to the first row?" Xu Ling asked first.

"The first row... isn't that good. What if it's reserved for the teacher?"

Lin Yuxin's tone was a little hesitant.

"Then let's squeeze into the crowd." Xu Ling said helplessly. Looking at the slowly moving people in the back row, he couldn't help but feel a headache.

Seeing the crowded back row, and wondering how many legs she would have to step over to get into those seats, Lin Yuxin also shook her head:
"Forget it, let's go to the first row."

The two of them then came to the first row, found a seat near the aisle, and sat down.

"Why are there so many people!" Lin Yuxin complained.

"Nonsense! When an academician gives a report, basically everyone who is free will come. It's a rare opportunity to listen to one." Xu Ling did not make a fuss, but he blamed himself in his heart for not coming earlier.

However, just as the two were talking, several teachers in formal attire walked in from the other end of the seats, and soon sat down next to Xu Ling and Lin Yuxin one after another.

Seeing the teacher sitting next to her, Lin Yuxin was startled and was about to stand up, but was stopped by the teacher next to her:
"Classmates, it's okay! Just sit here, there's enough space."

Lin Yuxin had no choice but to scratch her head and sit back in her seat, feeling extremely regretful.

How embarrassing!
I had no choice but to lean towards Xu Ling.

After all the teachers were seated, several etiquette ladies brought teapots and poured hot tea for the teachers, and also prepared a few bottles of mineral water.

Xu Ling couldn't help but be shocked.

It seems that these teachers are not simple!

Just as Xu Ling was sighing, the teacher next to him spoke again:

"Eh? Why are you giving us two bottles of water? Look, classmates, I'll give you the mineral water, and we'll just have some tea."

After saying that, he handed two bottles of mineral water to Lin Yuxin.

For a moment, the two were flattered and hurriedly took the water carefully.

Xu Ling opened it and took a sip.

Not bad, just like ordinary mineral water!
"It's two o'clock! Our report is about to begin. Please take your seats as soon as possible and keep quiet!"

The host on stage gave a preview at noon.

Xu Ling and Lin Yuxin also breathed a sigh of relief and their attention was no longer focused on the teachers beside them.

"Next, please allow me to give a brief introduction to Academician Pan Zhiming."

"Academician Pan Zhiming is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He serves as Vice President of Wancheng University of Science and Technology and led the team at Wancheng University of Science and Technology to develop my country's first quantum supercomputer."

As soon as he finished speaking, thunderous applause broke out from the audience.

China's first quantum supercomputer! Xu Ling couldn't help but feel excited.

"Now, please invite Academician Pan to come to the stage and give a report!"

There was thunderous applause again!

“I am honored to be able to come to Shanghai University to give such a report. In the next hour, I will briefly talk to you about the research I am engaged in.

The so-called quantum computing is a new computing model that follows the laws of quantum mechanics to control quantum information units for calculations.

……

Quantum computing possesses unimaginably powerful computing capabilities. It can also efficiently improve many algorithms that cannot be optimized by ordinary computers.

……

China is also at the forefront of the world in the field of quantum computing, and we are confident that we will continue to lead!
thank you all! "

The one-hour report passed in a flash. While being shocked by the powerful capabilities of quantum computing, Xu Ling also felt a strong sense of pride in his own country.

Even Lin Yuxin, who always sleeps in class, listened to the entire report attentively, which shows how attractive this report is.

"Next, it's time for questions. You'll have five opportunities to ask questions. Please seize the opportunity!"

There was even a question-and-answer session, which made Xu Ling even more excited.

When the host announced the start, Xu Ling immediately raised his hand.

The one who is close to the water gets the moon first. Pan Zhiming saw Xu Ling with an excited face at a glance.

Taking the microphone from the host, Xu Ling paused and spoke slowly:
"Hello, Academician Pan! In your presentation just now, you talked a lot about the advantages and prospects of quantum computing. But I would like to ask, in what fields will quantum computing bring challenges?"

Pan Zhiming pondered for a moment and said, "This student asked a very good question. Everything new inevitably challenges the old. The challenge posed by quantum computing lies in its powerful computing power."

Many things that used to be popular based on the current level of computing power are now facing the challenge of quantum computing!
For example, cryptographic designs that use large prime numbers to maintain confidentiality are difficult to crack with current computing power, but with the power of quantum computing, they are no longer difficult. This means that previous cryptographic design methods need to be replaced by new ones!

The idea of ​​using large prime numbers for confidentiality is actually not difficult to understand.

It is to split the number obtained by multiplying two prime numbers into the original prime numbers, and use these two prime numbers to construct something like a secret key.

But multiplying is easy, breaking it down is hard, especially when the numbers are very large.

For example, the latest Mersenne prime number discovered so far has reached 2 to the power of 136279841 - 1, which has 41024320 digits.

Calculating such large numbers is not difficult in terms of quantum computing, which made Xu Ling amazed.

Soon, all five questions were asked and the report came to an end.

After leaving the auditorium, Xu Ling couldn't calm down for a long time.

It’s true that if you don’t see the world, you will never know how small your world is.

After listening to Academician Pan’s description of quantum computing, Xu Ling felt that the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations he had studied seemed a little inadequate.

After parting with Lin Yuxin, Xu Ling came to the library alone.

Today is the third day of the "Endless Sea of ​​Questions" mission, and the mission progress is still about 30%.

This is 100 study points!
Don't be careless!

(End of this chapter)