Pattern recognition on a quantum computer

Recently, quantum computing has been heralded as the new cool kid on the block. The point of quantum computing is that, during a calculation, the bits (called qubits) that are being manipulated are never in a definite one or zero state. Instead, they can be thought of as being both a one and a zero simultaneously, which allows a quantum computer to explore many solutions at the same time. The upshot is that, for a limited set of problems, quantum computers may offer a substantial speed up over normal computers. In [http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.1592v2 recent, unpublished research], scientists have made use of the similarities between a certain type of quantum computation and neural networks to construct a very simple quantum neural network. The result may offer a faster and more robust form of pattern recognition.