Zeno machines and hypercomputation

This paper reviews the Church-Turing Thesis (or rather, theses) with reference to their origin and application and considers some models of "hypercomputation", concentrating on perhaps the most straight-forward option: Zeno machines (Turing machines with accelerating clock). The halting problem is briefly discussed in a general context and the suggestion that it is an inevitable companion of any reasonable computational model is emphasised. It is suggested that claims to have "broken the Turing barrier" could be toned down and that the important and well-founded role of Turing computability in the mathematical sciences stands unchallenged.

[1]  A. Turing On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem. , 1937 .

[2]  Willem L. Fouché,et al.  Arithmetical representations of Brownian motion I , 2000, Journal of Symbolic Logic.

[3]  Andrew Chi-Chih Yao,et al.  Classical physics and the Church--Turing Thesis , 2003, JACM.

[4]  John H. Reif,et al.  The Emergence of the Discipline of Biomolecular Computation in the US , 2002 .

[5]  Alex Kane,et al.  Coins , 1984 .

[6]  Yu Shi Remarks on Universal Quantum Computer , 1998, quant-ph/9805083.

[7]  D. Deutsch Quantum theory, the Church–Turing principle and the universal quantum computer , 1985, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[8]  Tien D Kieu Reply to ``The quantum algorithm of Kieu does not solve the Hilbert's tenth problem" , 2001 .

[9]  István Németi,et al.  Non-Turing Computations Via Malament–Hogarth Space-Times , 2001 .

[10]  Boris Tsirelson The quantum algorithm of Kieu does not solve the Hilbert's tenth problem , 2001 .

[11]  Cristian S. Calude,et al.  Bio-steps beyond Turing. , 2004, Bio Systems.

[12]  Daniel R. Simon,et al.  On the power of quantum computation , 1994, Proceedings 35th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.

[13]  Petrus H. Potgieter The pre-history of quantum computation , 2004, ArXiv.

[14]  Note on a reformulation of the strong cosmic censor conjecture based on computability , 2002, gr-qc/0207086.

[15]  Benedikt Löwe,et al.  New Computational Paradigms , 2005 .

[16]  B. Jack Copeland,et al.  Hypercomputation: philosophical issues , 2004, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[17]  Selim G. Akl,et al.  THE MYTH OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTATION ∗ , 2005 .

[18]  Hilary Putnam,et al.  Trial and error predicates and the solution to a problem of Mostowski , 1965, Journal of Symbolic Logic.

[19]  Noson S. Yanofsky,et al.  A universal approach to self-referential paradoxes, incompleteness and fixed points , 2003, Bull. Symb. Log..

[20]  Lov K. Grover A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search , 1996, STOC '96.

[21]  Mark Burgin,et al.  Experience, generations, and limits in machine learning , 2004, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[22]  R. Feynman Simulating physics with computers , 1999 .

[23]  Paolo Cotogno,et al.  Hypercomputation and the Physical Church‐Turing Thesis , 2003, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

[24]  Cristian S. Calude,et al.  Coins, Quantum Measurements, and Turing's Barrier , 2002, Quantum Inf. Process..

[25]  J. Myers CAN A UNIVERSAL QUANTUM COMPUTER BE FULLY QUANTUM , 1997 .

[26]  J. F. Thomson,et al.  Tasks and Super-Tasks , 1954 .

[27]  M. B. Pour-El,et al.  Noncomputability in models of physical phenomena , 1982 .

[28]  Marcin Mostowski Potential Infinity and the Church Thesis , 2007, Fundam. Informaticae.

[29]  John L. Casti,et al.  Unconventional Models of Computation , 2002, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[30]  George Boolos,et al.  Computability and logic: 3rd ed. , 1989 .

[31]  Umesh V. Vazirani,et al.  Quantum complexity theory , 1993, STOC.

[32]  Mikhail N. Vyalyi,et al.  Classical and Quantum Computation , 2002, Graduate studies in mathematics.

[33]  C. Teuscher,et al.  Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker , 2004, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[34]  A. Church An Unsolvable Problem of Elementary Number Theory , 1936 .

[35]  K. Svozil The Church-Turing thesis as a guiding principle for physics , 1997, quant-ph/9710052.

[36]  B. Jack Copeland,et al.  The Church-Turing Thesis , 2007 .

[37]  S. Barry Cooper Introduction: If CiE Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent It , 2005, CiE.

[38]  Tien D. Kieu Hypercomputation with quantum adiabatic processes , 2004, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[39]  Seth Lloyd,et al.  Adiabatic quantum computation is equivalent to standard quantum computation , 2004, 45th Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.

[40]  Tien D. Kieu,et al.  The Diagonal Method and Hypercomputation , 2003, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

[41]  John H. Reif,et al.  Alternative Computational Models: A Comparison of Biomolecular and Quantum Computation , 1998, FSTTCS.

[42]  Joel David Hamkins,et al.  Infinitary Computability with Infinite Time Turing Machines , 2005, CiE.

[43]  B. Jack Copeland,et al.  Accelerating Turing Machines , 2002, Minds and Machines.

[44]  Benedikt Löwe,et al.  New Computational Paradigms, First Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2005, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 8-12, 2005, Proceedings , 2005, CiE.

[45]  H. S. Allen The Quantum Theory , 1928, Nature.

[46]  George Boolos,et al.  Computability and logic , 1974 .

[47]  Benjamin Wells Hypercomputation by definition , 2004, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[48]  Martin D. Davis The Myth of Hypercomputation , 2004 .

[49]  Peter Wegner,et al.  The Church-Turing Thesis: Breaking the Myth , 2005, CiE.