News Release

Spotlight on quantum computing at SXSW 2018

TACC scientist Antia Lamas-Linares speaks at South by Southwest 2018 conference

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

Antia Lamas-Linares, University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

image: Antia Lamas-Linares of the Texas Advanced Computing Center speaks at the SXSW 2018 conference on "Quantum Computing: Science Fiction to Science Fact." view more 

Credit: TACC

Imagine a new kind of computer that can quickly solve problems that would stump even the world's most powerful supercomputers. Quantum computers are fundamentally different. They can store information as not only just ones and zeros, but in all the shades of gray in-between. Several companies and government agencies are investing billions of dollars in the field of quantum information. But what will quantum computers be used for?

South by Southwest 2018 hosts a panel on March 10th called Quantum Computing: Science Fiction to Science Fact. Experts on quantum computing make up the panel, including Jerry Chow of IBM; Bo Ewald of D-Wave Systems; Andrew Fursman of 1QBit; and Antia Lamas-Linares of the Texas Advanced Computing Center at UT Austin.

Antia Lamas-Linares is a Research Associate in the High Performance Computing group at TACC. Her background is as an experimentalist with quantum computing systems, including work done with them at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore. She joins podcast host Jorge Salazar to talk about her South by Southwest panel and about some of her latest research on quantum information.

Lamas-Linares co-authored a study (doi: 10.1117/12.2290561) in the Proceedings of the SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering, that published in February of 2018. The study, "Secure Quantum Clock Synchronization," proposed a protocol to verify and secure time synchronization of distant atomic clocks, such as those used for GPS signals in cell phone towers and other places. "It's important work," explained Lamas-Linares, "because people are worried about malicious parties messing with the channels of GPS. What James Troupe (Applied Research Laboratories, UT Austin) and I looked at was whether we can use techniques from quantum cryptography and quantum information to make something that is inherently unspoofable."

Antia Lamas-Linares: The most important thing is that quantum technologies is a really exciting field. And it's exciting in a fundamental sense. We don't quite know what we're going to get out of it. We know a few things, and that's good enough to drive research. But the things we don't know are much broader than the things we know, and it's going to be really interesting. Keep your eyes open for this.

###

Quantum Computing: Science Fiction to Science Fact, March 10, 2018 | 11:00AM - 12:00PM, Fairmont Manchester EFG, SXSW 2018, Austin, TX.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.