Title :
Computational complexity for physicists
Author :
Mertens, Stephan
Author_Institution :
Otto-von-Guericke Univ., Magdeburg, Germany
Abstract :
The theory of computational complexity has some interesting links to physics, in particular to quantum computing and statistical mechanics. The article contains an informal introduction to this theory and its links to physics
Keywords :
computational complexity; physics; quantum computing; quantum theory; statistical mechanics; Eulerian circuits; Hamiltonian cycles; Ising models; coloring; combinatorial problems; complexity classes; computational complexity; decision problems; intractable problems; nondeterministic algorithms; phase transitions; physics; polynomial reductions; probabilistic analysis; quantum computing; quantum parallelism; satisfiability; statistical mechanics; time complexity; tractable problems; tractable trees; Computational complexity; Computer science; Mathematics; Particle measurements; Physics computing; Quantum computing; Sorting; Time measurement; Turing machines; Upper bound;
Journal_Title :
Computing in Science & Engineering
DOI :
10.1109/5992.998639
