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International Conference on Cloud Computing and Services Science

CLOSER 2020: Cloud Computing and Services Science pp 25–58Cite as

Relevance of Near-Term Quantum Computing in the Cloud: A Humanities Perspective

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1399))

Abstract

As quantum computers are becoming real, they have the inherent potential to significantly impact many application domains. In this paper we outline the fundamentals about programming quantum computers and show that quantum programs are typically hybrid consisting of a mixture of classical parts and quantum parts. With the advent of quantum computers in the cloud, the cloud is a fine environment for performing quantum programs. The tool chain available for creating and running such programs is sketched. As an exemplary problem we discuss efforts to implement quantum programs that are hardware independent. A use case from quantum humanities is discussed, hinting which applications in this domain can already be used in the field of (quantum) machine learning. Finally, a collaborative platform for solving problems with quantum computers – that is currently under construction – is presented.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Marie Salm and Manuela Weigold for discussing several subjects of this paper. Also, our thanks go to Philipp Wundrack, Marcel Messer, Daniel Fink and Tino Strehl for their valuable input and implementing several aspects of our use case.

This work was partially funded by the BMWi project PlanQK (01MK20005N) and the Terra Incognita project Quantum Humanities funded by the University of Stuttgart.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Stuttgart, Universitätsstraße 38, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Johanna Barzen, Frank Leymann, Daniel Vietz, Benjamin Weder & Karoline Wild

  2. StoneOne AG, Keithstraße 6, 10787, Berlin, Germany

    Michael Falkenthal

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  1. Johanna Barzen
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  2. Frank Leymann
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  4. Daniel Vietz
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Correspondence to Johanna Barzen .

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  1. Columbia University, New York, USA

    Donald Ferguson

  2. Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Claus Pahl

  3. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Markus Helfert

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Barzen, J., Leymann, F., Falkenthal, M., Vietz, D., Weder, B., Wild, K. (2021). Relevance of Near-Term Quantum Computing in the Cloud: A Humanities Perspective. In: Ferguson, D., Pahl, C., Helfert, M. (eds) Cloud Computing and Services Science. CLOSER 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1399. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72369-9_2

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