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New evidence that the quantum world is even stranger than we thought .journalist-note { background-color: #ebd99f; padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem; } <p> .journalist-note p { margin: 0 !important; } Note to journalists: Journalists visiting campus should follow visitor health guidelines. Experimental evidence of quasiparticles called anyons has been found by a team of scientists at Purdue University. Electrical interference in the experiment created a pattern which the researchers called a “pyjama plot”; jumps in the interference pattern were the signature of the presence of anyons. (Purdue University image/James Nakamura) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — New experimental evidence of a collective behavior of...

University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering announced the discovery of a simple modification that allows quantum systems to stay operational—or "coherent"—10,000 times longer than before. Though the scientists tested their technique on a particular class of quantum systems called solid-state qubits, they think it should be applicable to many other kinds of quantum systems and could thus revolutionize quantum communication, computing and sensing. Quantum states need an extremely quiet, stable space to operate, as they are easily disturbed by background noise coming from vibrations, temperature changes or stray electromagnetic fields. Thus, scientists try to find ways to keep...

What is the fundamental nature of reality? Is space-time — the four-dimensional fabric of our universe — ultimately smooth at the tiniest of scales, or something else? It seems impossible to measure, but with the power of advanced telescopes peering through billions of light-years of distance, researchers are beginning to look down. Deep down.

The news: Honeywell, a US company best known for its home thermostats, has announced that it has built the world’s most powerful quantum computer. While all eyes were on IBM and Google, which last year knocked heads over quantum supremacy, Honeywell has been working quietly on quantum tech that it plans to make available to clients via the internet in the next three months. How it works: Most quantum computers, including those being developed by IBM and Google, are built around superconducting qubits, which use supercooled circuits. Honeywell’s quantum computer uses a different technology, called ion traps, which hold ions—the...

After more than 50 years on the air, Star Trek has become a sort of universal vision of the future. Where other stories imagine a world torn by war, or at the mercy of technology run wild, Star Trek imagines, if not the best possible future, one very close to it. Creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity in the 23rd and 24th centuries unifies the planet, does away with grand-scale internal conflict, erases the need for a money-based economy, and opens up a whole galaxy of possibilities for the human species. The result is a people working together to create...

In this video I use a type II superconductor to perform a quantum locking demonstration using YCBO (Yttrium barium copper oxide). I then explain in depth how superconductors and quantum locking (Flux pinning) works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GY4m022tgo&t=370s

The theoretical notion of a 'quantum heat engine' has been around for several decades. It was first introduced around sixty years ago by Scovil and Schulz-DuBois, two physicists at Bell Labs who drew an analogy between three-level masers and thermal machines. In the years that followed, other researchers have developed a variety of theories building on the ideas of Scovil and Schulz-DuBois, introducing proposals of thermodynamic cycles at the quantum scale. Very recently, physicists have started testing some of these theories in experimental settings. One of these experiments was carried out by a team of researchers at the University of...

Here’s what quantum supremacy does—and doesn’t—mean for computing And no, super-powerful computers are not about to take over by Martin Giles Sep 24, 2019 Google Google has reportedly demonstrated for the first time that a quantum computer is capable of performing a task beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer in any practical time frame—a milestone known in the world of computing as “quantum supremacy.”The ominous-sounding term, which was coined by theoretical physicist John Preskill in 2012, evokes an image of Darth Vader–like machines lording it over other computers. And the news has already produced some outlandish...

Google researchers have reportedly achieved “quantum supremacy” The news: According to a report in the Financial Times, a team of researchers from Google led by John Martinis have demonstrated quantum supremacy for the first time. This is the point at which a quantum computer is shown to be capable of performing a task that’s beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer. The claim appeared in a paper that was posted on a NASA website, but the publication was then taken down. Google did not respond to a request for comment from MIT Technology Review.Why NASA? Google struck...

The more entanglement in the so-called Hilbert space—the realm where quantum information processing can take place—the better. Previous photonic approaches were able to reach 18 qubits encoded in six entangled photons in the Hilbert space. Purdue researchers maximized entanglement with a gate using four qudits—the equivalent of 20 qubits—encoded in only two photons. In quantum communication, less is more. "Photons are expensive in the quantum sense because they're hard to generate and control, so it's ideal to pack as much information as possible into each photon," said Poolad Imany, a postdoctoral researcher in Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering....

A recent test has confirmed the predictions of quantum trajectory theory, which describes what happens during the long-mysterious “collapse” of a quantum system.Imagine if all our scientific theories and models told us only about averages: if the best weather forecasts could only give you the average daily amount of rain expected over the next month, or if astronomers could only predict the average time between solar eclipses. In the early days of quantum mechanics, that seemed to be its inevitable limitation: It was a probabilistic theory, telling us only what we will observe on average if we collect records for...

One of the reasons why humans are handicapped in our understanding of reality is because of our reliance on the “scientific method”. It is a system based on observation. The problem with this method is that our understanding of reality is corrupted by the limits imposed by observation. Indeed, as well well know, it is the perception of the observer that changes our reality. This is a well understood rule. If you the reader, don’t “get it”, then you need to study quantum mechanics 101. For in the last two decades the entire foundation of our understanding of reality has...

FULL TITLE: QUANTUM TIME Scientists have built world’s first ‘time machine’ in experiment which defies the laws of physics ============================================================ Lead researcher Dr Gordey Lesovik said by putting scattered electrons back into their original shape they had effectively created a state which went against the 'direction of time' ============================================================ SCIENTISTS have built the world’s first time machine — sort of. Working with electrons in the bizarre realm of quantum mechanics, they first created the equivalent of a break for a game of pool. The “balls” scattered and, according to the laws of physics, should have appeared to split in a...

Quantum physics sets the laws that dominate the universe at a small scale. The ability to harness quantum phenomena could lead to machines like quantum computers, which are predicted to perform certain calculations much faster than conventional computers. One major problem with building quantum processors is that the tracking and controlling quantum systems in real time is a difficult task because quantum systems are overwhelmingly fragile: Manipulating these systems carelessly introduces significant errors in the final result. New work by a team at Aalto could lead to precise quantum computers. The researchers report controlling quantum phenomena in a custom-designed electrical...

For many years, quantum computers have been within only the confines of the research lab. On Tuesday, though, IBM unveiled the IBM Q System One, billed as the first-ever quantum computer designed for businesses to put to their own use — though the company is clear that this is only the first step toward a broader revolution. Quantum computing is considered one of the most promising early-stage technologies out there today. That's because quantum computers can process exponentially more data and have the potential to completely transform entire industries. For example, they could streamline aerospace and military systems, calculate risk...

As every schoolchild knows, some sorts of mathematics are harder than others... Factorising numbers into their constituent primes may sound esoteric, but the one-way nature of the problem—and of some other, closely related mathematical tasks—is the foundation on which much modern encryption rests. ...The only catch was that for large numbers his method—dubbed Shor’s algorithm—needs a quantum computer to work. ...One question is, when is the deadline? When will an internet-breaking computer actually be available?...

It is the most extraordinary, alluring and thought-provoking of all the ways in which quantum mechanics has been interpreted. In its most familiar guise, the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) suggests that we live in a near-infinity of universes, all superimposed in the same physical space but mutually isolated and evolving independently. In many of these universes there exist replicas of you and me, all but indistinguishable yet leading other lives. The MWI illustrates just how peculiarly quantum theory forces us to think. It is an intensely controversial view. Arguments about the interpretation of quantum mechanics are noted for their passion, as...

The reality of quantum computing could be just three years away Quantum computing has moved out of the realm of theoretical physics and into the real world, but its potential and promise are still years away. Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, a powerhouse in the world of quantum research and a young upstart in the field presented visions for the future of the industry that illustrated both how far the industry has come and how far the technology has to go. For both Dario Gil, the chief operating officer of IBM Research and the company’s vice president of artificial intelligence...

The University of Queensland and the NÉEL Institute has shown that, as far as quantum physics is concerned, the chicken and the egg can both come first. Dr Jacqui Romero from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems said that in quantum physics, cause-and-effect is not always as straightforward as one event causing another. "The weirdness of quantum mechanics means that events can happen without a set order," she said. "Take the example of your daily trip to work, where you travel partly by bus and partly by train. "Normally, you would take the bus then the train,...

“Deep Space of the Cosmos” –There’s a Mysterious Energy Latent In It Which Can Tell Us About Our Fate  Posted on Aug 15, 2018 “Empty space seems to be nothing to us. By analogy, water may seem to be nothing to a fish – it’s what’s left when you take away all the other things floating in the sea. Likewise, empty space is conjectured to be quite complicated,” Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge.Philosophers have debated the nature of “nothing” for thousands of years, but what has modern science got...