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Randomization can improve quantum computer performance in presence of noise

New research led by a graduating Ph.D. student in The University of New Mexico Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has shown that randomization can improve quantum computer performance in the presence of noise.

Ph.D. student Leeseok Kim led the research under the advice of Assistant Professor Milad Marvian, with support from Changhao Yi, a former member of Marvian’s group. Their findings, titled “Faster Randomized Dynamical Decoupling,” are published in the journal Physical Review Letters and were presented at QSim 2025, an international conference in quantum simulation.

Quantum computers have the potential to solve certain problems faster than classical computers, with promising applications in areas such as simulation and discovery of new materials, optimization, and cryptography. However, building quantum computers that can solve practically relevant problems at scale remains difficult because they are susceptible to noise. Reducing noise more effectively is therefore a key challenge.

Visualizing how flutter kick vertical vortices generate propulsion and suppress body sway in swimmers

Researchers at University of Tsukuba used advanced techniques to visualize the water flow generated by flutter kicking during front-crawl swimming. They analyzed how this kicking motion generates propulsive force and contributes to body stabilization, demonstrating that the vertical vortices resulting from the alternating left and right leg movements not only impart forward propulsion but also suppress body sway. These results provide a fluid-dynamical explanation of the functional value of the flutter kick.

In competitive swimming, both upper-and lower-limb motions play important roles in propulsion. Extensive research has focused on the dolphin kick used in the butterfly stroke, revealing that this kicking technique generates three-dimensional vortex structures that contribute directly to propulsion. In contrast, the propulsion mechanism of the flutter kick used in the front crawl has remained poorly understood, largely because the alternating motion of the left and right legs induces complex flow patterns.

Therefore, in this study, published in Physics of Fluids, the researchers investigated the flow fields generated by the flutter kick by combining a motion-capture system with particle image velocimetry—an optical method for visualizing and measuring flow.

AI speeds up discovery of next-gen computer chips and electronic materials

An international study team, led by Flinders University in collaboration with Khalifa University UAE, built the machine-learning platform to act like a “smart materials discovery engine,” which is capable of dramatically reducing the time spent on complex computer or lab experiments to test and find new materials for future semiconductors.

Semiconductors are used in high-tech applications from wearable electronics, communication systems and smartphones to medical and LED devices and solar panels.

“The challenge is that there are millions of possible material combinations, and testing them one by one in the laboratory or with complex computer simulations is extremely slow and expensive,” says Flinders University ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Vi-Khanh Truong, lead author of a new article in ACS Materials Letters, titled “Bayesian optimization-guided discovery of gallium-containing semiconductors with targeted band gaps.”

Tuning into quantum sounds: Acoustic devices simplify quantum sensors

When a singer belts out a tune while a guitar player strums along, sound waves travel through the air, driving collective oscillations of the molecules within. Meanwhile, at the quantum level, something similar is going on. Atoms inside materials, everything from our bodies to metals and more, naturally jiggle around, creating tiny vibrational waves that ripple across the material. These vibrations are known as phonons: the quantum version of sound waves.

Now, physicists at Caltech and Stanford University have developed devices called nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) that allow phonons to exhibit their quantum behavior purely through the intrinsic properties of the material that makes up the device. Previously, it was not possible to observe such behavior without the help of an external quantum device, such as a superconducting qubit.

This means that, through this newly discovered mechanism, a solitary NEMS device can, for example, serve as a greatly simplified and very compact quantum sensor or qubit.

Rethinking hysteresis—a thermodynamic framework for history-dependent solids

Many solid materials “remember” their past. A piece of metal may respond differently after being stretched, heated, or cooled, and memory materials rely precisely on this kind of history-dependent behavior. This phenomenon, known as hysteresis, is central to technologies such as memory devices, energy conversion materials, and durable structural materials.

However, hysteresis has long posed a problem for thermodynamics. In conventional thinking, the state of a material should be described by state variables, such as temperature and volume. But in solids, the same temperature and volume can correspond to different material properties depending on the material’s past treatment.

For this reason, hysteresis has traditionally been treated as a nonequilibrium phenomenon, outside the standard framework of thermodynamics.

Discovery of stromatolite formation in post-impact hydrothermal lacustrine environments and its implications for early Earth

Stromatolites within the Hapcheon impact crater suggest that asteroid impacts created hydrothermal oases fostering early life and habitability, according to geochemical, isotopic, and microbial analyses from the Hapcheon crater lake in Korea.

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