Probe Machine

TL;DR

The paper introduces the Probe Machine, a fully-parallel computing model capable of processing multiple data pairs simultaneously, and demonstrates its potential to solve complex problems efficiently, including NP-complete problems, with possible nano-DNA implementation.

Contribution

It establishes the mathematical framework of the Probe Machine, shows it generalizes Turing Machines, and develops algorithms for NP-complete problems within this new model.

Findings

Probe Machine can enumerate all solutions to NP-complete problems with a single probe operation.

It can be implemented using nano-DNA probe technologies.

Turing Machine is a special case of the Probe Machine.

Abstract

A novel computing model, called \emph{Probe Machine}, is proposed in this paper. Different from Turing Machine, Probe Machine is a fully-parallel computing model in the sense that it can simultaneously process multiple pairs of data, rather than sequentially process every pair of linearly-adjacent data. In this paper, we establish the mathematical model of Probe Machine as a 9-tuple consisting of data library, probe library, data controller, probe controller, probe operation, computing platform, detector, true solution storage, and residue collector. We analyze the computation capability of the Probe Machine model, and in particular we show that Turing Machine is a special case of Probe Machine. We revisit two NP-complete problems---i.e., the Graph Coloring and Hamilton Cycle problems, and devise two algorithms on basis of the established Probe Machine model, which can enumerate all solutions to each of these problems by only one probe operation. Furthermore, we show that Probe Machine can be implemented by leveraging the nano-DNA probe technologies. The computational power of an electronic computer based on Turing Machine is known far more than that of the human brain. A question naturally arises: will a future computer based on Probe Machine outperform the human brain in more ways beyond the computational power?