Introduction

Abstract

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the algorithms Peter Shor wrote for factoring and computing discrete logarithms on a quantum computer. It is no understatement to say that those algorithms have revolutionized our thinking about information processing and computability. By showing that there are certain, meaningful problems that are better solved on a quantum computer than on a classical computer, they inspired us to try to tame the weird world of quantum phenomena in order to reap these revolutionary benefits. Spurred by the importance and promise of this fundamentally new form of information processing, worldwide interest in research related to quantum information processing has skyrocketed in the intervening years. One measure of the remarkable impact of Shor’s algorithms is seen in the United States’ investment in quantum information, which rose from under $5M in 1994 to more than $100M in 2004.