Quantum Abacus: Cracking Codes with 10,000 Atoms ⚡ экспресс
Shor's algorithm can crack modern cryptography, but previously required millions of qubits due to error correction. Using new highly efficient codes and circuit optimization, the authors showed that about 10,000 atomic qubits, reconfigurable like mosaic tiles, would suffice. For the discrete logarithm on the P-256 curve with 26,000 qubits, the computation would take days, and for RSA-2048, it would take 1–2 orders of magnitude longer. Remarkably, experiments have already achieved accuracy below the error threshold on hundreds of qubits — like an orchestra without a single false note. This paves the way to practically significant quantum systems.
Instead of millions of rigidly fixed particles — 10,000 atoms, working as beads on a quantum abacus. Each bead can be both zero and one at the same time. But the key is: if an error creeps into the calculation, the atoms can be physically moved: as if you could rearrange the abacus on the fly so that the glitch doesn't ruin the result. This trick is pulled off by laser tweezers, guided by spectroscopy — the art of analyzing light. Special codes tame entropy (growing disorder), and the algorithm devised by Peter Shor in 1994 suddenly becomes practical: cracking RSA-2048 could be done in days. Physicists can already trap thousands of atoms and perform error-free operations on them — all thanks to understanding the Standard Model.
🎯 10,000 atoms — about as many as can fit on the tip of a needle if lined up in a chain.
🎬 The threat of quantum hacking has been looming from the pages of science fiction: as early as in Hannu Rajaniemi's novel "The Quantum Thief", a similar scenario was described.