Solution to The Quantum Menace

by Reid Barton

This puzzle is a quantum circuit. The measurements will yield one of the following eight states, each with equal probability:

|000> x |01100>,
|001> x |01111>,
|010> x |01100>,
|011> x |01100>,
|100> x |11001>,
|101> x |00111>,
|110> x |00001>,
|111> x |00111>.

The first three qubits form the numbers 0 through 7 in binary once each. Using these as an ordering on the states and converting the last five qubits to letters using the code A = |00001>, etc., we obtain the answer LOLLYGAG.


2006 MIT Mystery Hunt