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DNA-like geometric structure discovered in space-time

An international team of scientists, composed of researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid, Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus, and the University of California, has proposed a new theory suggesting that spacetime could be made up of “entangled virtual bosons”, similar to the double helix of DNA. This finding, which could have significant implications for the unification of gravity and electromagnetism, was recently published in the journal General Relativity and Gravity.

The research was led by Professor Robert Monjo, who holds a PhD in physics and mathematics from Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus, in collaboration with Professor Rutwig Campoamor-Stursberg, head of the Department of Algebra, Geometry, and Topology at the Complutense University of Madrid, and researcher Álvaro Rodríguez-Abella from the University of California, Los Angeles. According to the authors, their work represents an important step forward in understanding the true nature of spacetime. Monjo states: Up until now, there has been a significant gap between gravity and the other forces of nature, but with this study, we have found a link that could unite them.

One of the key aspects of this study lies in the extension of the idea of “color” symmetry—a concept from quantum chromodynamics—applied to gravity. This approach could allow gravity and electromagnetism to be interpreted as manifestations of a more general theory. Symmetries, defined as invariances of observed quantities under different transformations, are fundamental to understanding modern physics. In this case, the researchers have generalized these symmetries to propose what they call “colored gravity”, a theory that expands on Einstein’s ideas about gravity.

Digital quantum simulation of nuclear magnetic resonance experiments

Programmable quantum computers have the potential to efficiently simulate increasingly complex molecular structures, electronic structures, chemical reactions, and quantum mechanical states in chemistry that classical computers cannot. As the molecule’s size and complexity increase, so do the computational resources required to model it.

Study explores the physical origin of errors in a spin qubit processor

To achieve remarkable performances, quantum computing systems based on multiple qubits must attain high-fidelity entanglement between their underlying qubits. Past studies have shown that solid-state quantum platforms—quantum computing systems based on solid materials—are highly prone to errors, which can adversely impact the coherence between qubits and their overall performance.

Quantum Experiment Reveals Two Realities Coexisting Simultaneously

A quantum experiment revealed two observers can experience different, coexisting realities.

Our understanding of reality is often shaped by biases—our senses, cultures, and knowledge influence how we see the world. But even science, often regarded as a path to objective truth, may not always offer a single, consistent version of reality. A recent experiment testing a 1961 thought experiment by Nobel Prize winner Eugen Wigner highlights this issue, showing that two versions of reality can coexist in the quantum world.

Wigner’s Friend: The Thought Experiment Wigner’s thought experiment, known as “Wigner’s Friend,” explores a scenario in quantum mechanics where two observers can experience contradictory realities. The setup involves a quantum system, such as a photon with two possible polarizations (horizontal or vertical), that exists in a state of superposition, meaning both states exist at the same time until measured.

Quantum teleportation implies symmetry-protected topological order

Now in Quantum: by Yifan Hong, David T. Stephen, and Aaron J. Friedman https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2024-10-10-1499


Yifan Hong, David T. Stephen, and Aaron J. Friedman, Quantum 8, 1499 (2024). We constrain a broad class of teleportation protocols using insights from locality. In the “standard” teleportation protocols we consider, all outcome-dependent unitaries are Pauli operators conditioned on linear functions of the measurement outcomes. We find that all such protocols involve preparing a “resource state” exhibiting symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order with Abelian protecting symmetry $\mathcal{G}_{k}= (\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2)^k$. The $k$ logical states are teleported between the edges of the chain by measuring the corresponding $2k$ string order parameters in the bulk and applying outcome-dependent Paulis. Hence, this single class of nontrivial SPT states is both necessary and sufficient for the standard teleportation of $k$ qubits. We illustrate this result with several examples, including the cluster state, variants thereof, and a nonstabilizer hypergraph state.

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