Quantum Coin Flipping

Quantum computing (QC) is a radically new approach to computation. Classical computing is based on the idea of bits: strings of 1\u27s and 0\u27s on which we do arithmetic operations. QC, however, is based on quantum bits, qubits, and new physical operations. Despite the complexity of QC, we contend that it is an appropriate and useful topic for undergraduate physics students. In this talk, we present our results from three small QC projects relating to flipping coins. In the first, we investigate the results of a secret coin flip and use QC to guess whether the coin landed on heads or tails. In the second, we determine whether a given coin is fair or unfair using only a single qubit ( instead of multiple bits). In the third, we explore how quantum communication can alleviate dishonest player biases in coin flipping cryptographic primitives