This is pretty cool, but I think the main point of the article is to show an amazing link between number theory and the theory of quantum mechanics, not to suggest a practical quantum algorithm. Although, for certain hardware implementations what they are suggesting might be easier than Shor's algorithm, just because of technical reasons.
Either way, this is not "continuous variable" or "analog" in the sense discussed above. If you are interested about the distinction, you can also check out Adiabatic Quantum Computing, which also seems continuous on first sight, but it is equivalent to the typical model of quantum circuits (the trick being the existence of a "gap" between the ground state which we are adiabatically evolving and all the other states of the system).
I threw a bunch of terminology without defining them, but I would have to leave googling those to you. I would be happy to attempt to answer questions though.
This is pretty cool, but I think the main point of the article is to show an amazing link between number theory and the theory of quantum mechanics, not to suggest a practical quantum algorithm. Although, for certain hardware implementations what they are suggesting might be easier than Shor's algorithm, just because of technical reasons.
Either way, this is not "continuous variable" or "analog" in the sense discussed above. If you are interested about the distinction, you can also check out Adiabatic Quantum Computing, which also seems continuous on first sight, but it is equivalent to the typical model of quantum circuits (the trick being the existence of a "gap" between the ground state which we are adiabatically evolving and all the other states of the system).
I threw a bunch of terminology without defining them, but I would have to leave googling those to you. I would be happy to attempt to answer questions though.