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The researchers have shown that the arithmetic used in factoring numbers into their prime factors can be translated into the physics of a device—a "quantum simulator"—that physically mimics the arithmetic rather than trying to directly calculate a solution like a computer does.
Although the researchers have not yet built a quantum simulator, they show that the prime factors of large numbers would correspond to the energy values of the simulator. Measuring the energy values would then give the solutions to a given factoring problem, suggesting that factoring large numbers into primes may not be as difficult as currently thought.
"The work opens a new avenue to factor numbers, but we do not yet know about its power," Rosales told Phys.org. "It is very striking to find a completely new way to factor that comes directly from quantum physics. It does not demonstrate that factoring numbers is easy, but finding new ways to factor certainly does not add to the strength of algorithms based on its assumed complexity."
(Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday November 29 2016, @03:28AM
It's an important precursor, but there's tons of things that work out fine in math, but aren't reasonable solutions when built. If they haven't even built a test unit for their design, then they haven't actually done any science and shouldn't have people think they have.
It is an important step and I'm sure the math was quite difficult, but they haven't shown what it would do, at best they've shown what it could do if their estimations are all correct.