2021年经济学人 华尔街新宠--量子计算(1)

High-tech¹ finance

高科技金融

Quantum for quants

量化交易量子化

Wall Street's latest shiny new thing: quantum computing²

华尔街新宠：量子计算

The finance industry has had a long and profitable relationship with computing. It was an early adopter of everything from mainframe computers to artificial intelligence. For most of the past decade more trades have been done at high frequency by complex algorithms than by humans. Now big banks have their eyes on quantum computing, another cutting-edge technology.

金融业和计算技术长期保持着有利可图的关系。在采用从大型主机到人工智能等各种技术时，这个行业都是领头羊。在过去十年的大部分时间里，由复杂算法驱动的高频交易的交易量已经超过了人工交易。现在，大银行又盯上了另一项尖端技术——量子计算。

This is the idea, developed by physicists³ in the 1980s, that the counter-intuitive properties of quantum mechanics might allow for the construction of computers that could perform mathematical feats⁴ that no non-quantum machine would ever be capable of. The promise is now starting to be realised. Computing giants like Google and IBM, as well as a flock of smaller competitors, are building and refining quantum hardware.

上世纪80年代物理学家提出，借助量子力学种种与直觉相悖的特性或许可以发明出量子计算机，实现非量子计算机永远无法企及的运算壮举。这一愿景现已开始逐渐演变为现实。谷歌和IBM等计算巨头以及一大批较小的竞争对手都在打造和完善量子硬件。

Quantum computers will not beat their classical counterparts at everything. But much of the maths at which they will excel is of interest to bankers. At a conference on December 10th William Zeng, head of quantum research at Goldman Sachs told the audience that quantum computing could have a "revolutionary" impact on the bank, and on finance more broadly.

量子计算机虽然并不会在所有领域都能击败经典计算机，但它们擅长解决的许多数学问题却让银行家颇感兴趣。在12月10日的一次会议上，高盛集团的量子研究负责人威廉·曾告诉听众，量子计算可能给这家银行以及更广泛的金融产业带来“革命性”影响。

Many financial calculations boil down to optimisation problems, a known strength of quantum computers, says Marco Pistoia, the head of a research unit at JPMorgan Chase, who spent many years at IBM before that. Quantum quants hope their machines will boost profits by speeding up asset pricing, digging up better-performing portfolios⁵ and making machinelearning algorithms more accurate. A study by BBVA, a Spanish bank, concluded in July that quantum computers could boost credit-scoring, spot arbitrage⁶ opportunities and accelerate so-called "Monte Carlo" simulations, which are commonly used in finance to try to model the likely behaviour of markets.

马可皮斯托亚是摩根大通研究部门的负责人，曾在IBM工作多年，他表示，许多金融运算都可以归结为最优化问题，而这正是量子计算机的一个已知强项。有量子计算加持的量化投资机构希望通过加速资产定价、挖掘表现更好的投资组合、提高机器学习算法的准确性来提升利润。西班牙对外银行（BBVA）在7月完成的研究称量子计算机可以增强信用评分、发现套利机会并加速“蒙特卡罗模拟——金融业广泛使用这种模拟来预测市场动向。

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

3 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

4 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

5 portfolios   

n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 )；（保险）业务量；（公司或机构提供的）系列产品；纸夹

参考例句：

• Price risk arises in non-trading portfolios, as well as in trading portfolios. 价格风险中出现的非贸易投资，以及在贸易投资组合。 来自互联网
• How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? 我们怎样育肥我们的投资结构和维持财政健康呢？ 来自互联网

6 arbitrage   

n.套利，套汇

参考例句：

• This is an example of arbitrage.这就是套利的一个例子。
• That is interest arbitrage in practice.这就是所谓的套利。