An insight into modern ideas of quantum
physics
Entangled World
The Fascination of Quantum Information
and Computation
Edited by Jrgen Audretsch.
Wiley-VCH, Berlin 2005. 302 pp., hardcover
E 29.90.—ISBN 3-527-404070-8
This book is based on a series of lectures
on the theme of quantum information
technology held in Constance in 2000/
2001 and gives an
overview of the
key issues in this
field. The subjects
range from quan-
tum entangle-
ment and quan-
tum computing to
decoherence and
the philosophical
implications of
quantum theory.
Each chapter ends with references to rel-
evant publications and the book has a
short index. This hardback is a reworking
of the German edition, augmented with
a chapter on quantum information proc-
essing specially written for the translated
edition.
Each chapter is written by one or
more specialists, each presenting a dif-
ferent aspect of quantum information
technology. The first two chapters are
written by the editor himself and give a
mathematical overview of basic concepts
in quantum mechanics and a fairly gen-
eral discussion of the interpretations of
quantum theory. Most of chapter 2 is de-
voted to the entanglement phenomen-
on along with its particular implications
for quantum systems. In chapter 3, C.
Held describes the Einstein-Bohr debate,
which provides an historical perspective
on non-locality, the puzzle of wave-func-
tion collapse during quantum measure-
ment, and entanglement phenomena.
The authors of chapter 4 (R. Lçw and T.
ChemPhysChem 2006, 7, 2607 B 2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Pfau) discuss the latest developments in
the use of laser-cooling techniques to
produce Bose condensates and then
move on to describe the influence of
quantum decoherence and entangle-
ment on quantum computing. This
chapter gives a good overview of quan-
tum computing and the technological
problems associated with the realisation
of a quantum computer. Chapter 5 revis-
its the double-slit experiment in detail
and shows that entanglement is respon-
sible for the loss of interference patterns
in a “which-path” setup. It also introdu-
ces an interesting quantitative wave-par-
ticle duality relationship and illustrates
the potential uses of light-atom entan-
gled states in quantum information tech-
nology.
Chapter 6 is the first chapter to focus
on the practicalities of quantum informa-
tion processing such as quantum cryp-
tography, teleportation and quantum
computing. Chapter 7 describes the
actual algorithms that could run on a
quantum computer and some of the re-
quirements for a successful quantum cal-
culation. The whole chapter has a strong
flavour of information theory and illus-
trates clearly the potential uses of a
quantum computer with Shor’s factorisa-
tion algorithm as an example. Chapter 8
deals with decoherence and its implica-
tions for the connection between classi-
cal and quantum mechanics. Several ex-
amples are used to illustrate the com-
plex processes that occur during a quan-
tum wave-function collapse, leading to a
particular classical measurement. In
chapter 9, the author focuses on the
latest developments in ion-trap technol-
ogy and discusses the related technolog-
ical challenges necessary for the realisa-
tion of quantum computers. Without
going into detail on the related algo-
rithms, the author shows what can be
achieved with ion traps, and their appli-
cation in realising entangled states,
quantum teleportation and basic quan-
tum computing. The last chapter discuss-
es the philosophical implications of
quantum theory for our understanding
of nature. The author emphasises a rela-
tional–correlation–explanation of the
properties of objects, where entangle-
ment is the central issue. This chapter is
rather dry for those without a back-
ground in philosophy of science.
On the whole, the various topics pre-
sented form a series of enlightening
snapshots of quantum information tech-
nology and the book is well-worth read-
ing for someone who wants to learn
more about the various issues surround-
ing quantum computing. Nonetheless, it
is difficult to tell what the intended
readership of this book really is. The
preface suggests that it should be suita-
ble for scientists, students and “the inter-
ested layperson” but most of the book is
unlikely to be understood by someone
without any background knowledge of
quantum mechanics and mathematics.
That said, some of the authors go out of
their way to make sure that their argu-
ments are suitably introduced, and a few
chapters contain individual text boxes
that separate more mathematical explan-
ations from the main body of the text.
Finally, there is no escaping the fact that
this book is a straight translation from
the original German text, apparently by
a non-native English speaker. Regretta-
bly, this has a deleterious impact on the
reading experience as misnomers and
misunderstandings render some of the
intricate argumentations difficult to
follow at times.
Dr. David M. Benoit
Nachwuchsgruppe Theorie–SFB 569
University of Ulm
89081 Ulm (Germany)
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.200600275
2607