Category: quantum physics – Page 11
Light’s hidden properties save quantum information from the chaos of bad weather
For years, researchers have tried to harness the “twist” of light to transmit data. This property describes how light spirals as it travels forward, and because it can be molded into a virtually infinite number of different twists, it provides a massive, promising alphabet for high-capacity communication.
This twisted light has proven notoriously fragile in real-world environments such as bad weather, atmospheric turbulence and water. Once it passes through these chaotic media, the twisted pattern becomes completely unrecognizable, a major historical barrier that has stalled the use of this large alphabet for global communications.
By sending quantum information through a storm, researchers at The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have shown that the information in light can be kept completely intact, even though the light itself was completely warped beyond recognition.
Quantum in the palm of your hand: The evolution of superconducting qubits
Electrons zipping through transistors, powering the screens on our smartphones. Light zooming from distant stars to Earth, moving faster than anything else in the universe. Protons enabling MRI machines to analyze people’s injuries.
Quantum mechanics explains the behavior of subatomic particles like electrons, photons and protons. In contrast to classical physics that we can observe with our senses, particles in the quantum realm have unusual behaviors. Even though quantum particles make common technologies possible, we don’t experience these behaviors in our everyday world.
That’s why a discovery in 1985 was such a big deal. In a laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, a team of three scientists showed that a system you could see could demonstrate quantum behavior. Or as they said in one of the journal articles covering the experiments, the system was “big enough to get one’s grubby fingers on.”
Physicists link the Riemann Hypothesis to phase transitions in quantum systems
A new study in Nature Communications has established a link between the Riemann Hypothesis and dynamical phase transitions in engineered quantum systems, demonstrating the effect on a quantum processor.
First posed in 1859, the Riemann Hypothesis is one of the longest-standing unsolved problems in mathematics. It underpins parts of cryptography, as well as more than a thousand theorems proved on the assumption that it is true.
Physicists have previously proposed physical counterparts to this mathematical statement. The aim was to map the Riemann Hypothesis to something concrete, such as the energy levels of a quantum system. The new study ties the hypothesis to how a quantum system evolves over time.
Artificial Intelligence: The Definitive Primer for the Acceleration Era: Understanding AI, Technology Convergence, Cybersecurity, and the Future
Artificial intelligence is not simply another chapter in the history of technology. It is becoming the cognitive infrastructure of modern civilization. Like electricity transformed the Industrial Age and the Internet transformed the Information Age, AI will define the Intelligence Age. Its true power will not come from replacing people, but from amplifying human ingenuity through the convergence of computing, cybersecurity, robotics, quantum science, biotechnology, and human creativity. The future will belong to societies that innovate boldly, secure wisely, govern responsibly, and never lose sight of the fact that technology should ultimately serve humanity—not the other way around.
Finally! After 20 Years, Major Quantum Entanglement Theory Has Been Experimentally Confirmed
Quantum mechanics is so odd that even the visionary genius who described the secrets of the Universe seemed to dismiss certain aspects as eerie.
“Spooky action at a distance” is how Albert Einstein described quantum entanglement, a weird connection between particles that classical physics cannot explain.
From our classical perspective, it seems to allow instantaneous communication, thereby breaking the speed of light and garnering Einstein’s ire.
A way to read quantum bits faster and with less hardware
Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way from conventional computers, using quantum bits, or qubits, that can exist in multiple states at once. This could allow them to tackle problems beyond the reach of today’s machines, from simulating new materials to optimizing complex systems.
But to extract useful results from a quantum processor, researchers must reliably measure the state of each qubit, a task that remains one of the main bottlenecks in the field.
One of the leading approaches to building quantum computers uses superconducting circuits that carry current without resistance at extremely low temperatures.