Abstract:
Quantum dynamics promise non-classical complexity and capabilities, but a crucial challenge is how computationally universal systems emerge from noisy, physical media. In common models, noise induces exponential decay to randomness until actively corrected. Though fault-tolerance implies a path to escape noise, current approaches yield a long timeline even assuming many abstractions. Experiments, theoretical quandaries, and conjectures about natural systems, however, suggest a complex relationship between noisy and coherent time-evolution. More varied dynamics could innately repel or constrain noise. A deeper understanding of noise may advance strategies for error reduction in quantum computing and communication. Finally, I will note some connections and problems related to the emergence of classical determinism, in which noise seems to reduce computational power without inducing randomness.