Jerry Petersen
Researchers working on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking program have released pre-prints of the initial results of their effort to develop scientifically rigorous metrics that can be used to measure the impact of quantum computers on key computational challenges.
The findings cover work done during phase 2 of the program, which saw three teams — University of Southern California, HRL Laboratories and L3Harris Technologies — refine a set of benchmarks and expand the applications they can be used for and two teams — Rigetti Computing and Zapata Computing — develop tools to estimate the quantum computing resources needed to run those applications.
The benchmarks chosen for detailed study in phase 2 were taken from 20 candidate benchmarks developed by eight teams in phase 1 based on 200 potential applications.
The benchmarks cover three categories: chemistry, materials science and non-linear differential equations. The initial results indicate that using quantum computers to run chemistry, quantum materials and materials science applications may be advantageous. The benefits of using quantum computing for applications in nonlinear differential equations is unclear, however.
Commenting on the initial results, Quantum Benchmarking Program Manager Joe Altepeter said, “The findings in these pre-prints mark an important first step toward quantifying the impact of quantum computers.”
“We’re intentionally publishing preliminary results, because we want robust feedback from the scientific and industrial communities. We want that feedback so by the end of the program we have results we — and the community — can really trust,” Altepeter added.
