A research team has achieved the holy grail of quantum computing: an exponential speedup that’s unconditional. By using clever error correction and IBM’s powerful 127-qubit processors, they tackled a variation of Simon’s problem, showing quantum machines are now breaking free from classical limitations, for real.
Satyendra Nath Bose FRS, MP [ 1 ] (/ ˈ b oʊ s / ; [ 4 ] [ a ] 1 January 1894 – 4 February 1974) was an Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics, and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1954 by the Government of India. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
The eponymous particles class described by Bose’s statistics, bosons, were named by Paul Dirac. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
A polymath, he had a wide range of interests in varied fields, including physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, philosophy, arts, literature, and music. He served on many research and development committees in India, after independence. [ 10 ] .
In a study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung have discovered a new superheavy isotope, 257 Sg (seaborgium), whose properties are providing new insights into nuclear stability and fission in the heaviest elements.
Superheavy elements exist in a delicate balance between the attractive nuclear force that holds protons and neutrons together and the repulsive electromagnetic force that pushes positively charged protons apart.
Without quantum shell effects, analogous to electron shells in atoms, these massive nuclei would split apart in less than a trillionth of a second.
A research team from the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) has addressed a 40-year-old quantum puzzle, unlocking a new pathway to creating next-generation electronic devices that operate without losing energy or wasting electricity.
Published in Advanced Materials, the study is the work of UOW researchers led by Distinguished Professor Xiaolin Wang and Dr. M Nadeem, with Ph.D. candidate Syeda Amina Shabbir and Dr. Frank Fei Yun.
It introduces a new design concept to realize the elusive and highly sought-after quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect.
Devices taking advantage of the collective quantum behavior of spin excitations in magnetic materials—known as magnons—have the potential to improve quantum computing devices. However, using magnons in quantum devices requires an in-depth understanding of their nature and limitations. A new experimental technique uses superconducting qubits to sensitively characterize magnon behavior in previously unexplored regimes.
Researchers in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported in the journal Physical Review Applied that highly excited magnon behavior in ferromagnetic materials can be accurately characterized by coupling the material to a superconducting qubit via a microwave cavity. This setup allowed the researchers to characterize both the number of magnons and their lifetimes when thousands of excitations are present, a regime that has not been studied well.
“To be useful in quantum computing applications, limitations on magnon systems need to be understood properly,” said Sonia Rani, the study’s lead author. “The problem is that there isn’t a good theory for when certain effects become important, and if we should expect them to lead to detrimental effects.
The race to build the first useful quantum computer is on and may revolutionize the world with brand new capabilities, from medicine to freight logistics.
Tech companies all want to take the crown, with Microsoft announcing the first of its kind quantum chip in February, only days before Google’s breakthrough on quantum error correction.
As the race heats up, companies are turning to a new ultracold solution—neutral atoms—which Swinburne University of Technology has been exploring and making discoveries in for two decades.
Clocks might be far more fundamental to physics than we ever realized.
A new theory suggests what we see around us – from the smallest of quantum actions to the cosmic crawl of entire galaxies – could all be literally a matter of time. Three dimensions of time, in fact.
The basic idea of 3D time isn’t new. But University of Alaska geophysicist Gunther Kletetschka says his mathematical framework is the first to reproduce known properties of the Universe, making it a somewhat serious contender for uniting physics under one consistent model.
