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quantum computing

Orange spheres representing quantum bits.
explainers

How Quantum Computers Will Correct Their Errors

By Katie McCormick
November 16, 2021
Read Later

Quantum bits are fussy and fragile. Useful quantum computers will need to use an error-correction technique like the one that was recently demonstrated on a real machine.

A video of masks swirling around.
quantum computing

Major Quantum Computing Strategy Suffers Serious Setbacks

By Philip Ball
September 29, 2021
Read Later

So-called topological quantum computing would avoid many of the problems that stand in the way of full-scale quantum computers. But high-profile missteps have led some experts to question whether the field is fooling itself.

Animation of a gemstone flipping up and down between mirror-image states.
quantum computing

Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real

By Natalie Wolchover
July 30, 2021
Read Later

Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase of matter inside a quantum computer.

Quantized Columns

What Makes Quantum Computing So Hard to Explain?

By Scott Aaronson
June 8, 2021
Read Later

To understand what quantum computers can do — and what they can’t — avoid falling for overly simple explanations.

An animation showing chaotic swirls of purple coalesce into a single line
Abstractions blog

New Quantum Algorithms Finally Crack Nonlinear Equations

By Max G. Levy
January 5, 2021
Read Later

Two teams found different ways for quantum computers to process nonlinear systems by first disguising them as linear ones.

A stylized atom surrounded by concentric shells of increasingly complex organisms.
quantum physics

A New Theorem Maps Out the Limits of Quantum Physics

By Anil Ananthaswamy
December 3, 2020
Read Later

The result highlights a fundamental tension: Either the rules of quantum mechanics don’t always apply, or at least one basic assumption about reality must be wrong.

Animated illustration of a hand emerging from a black hole, while drawing the black hole by connecting dots flashing 0 and 1.
Quantized Columns

Spotting Quantum Black Holes in the Lab

By John Preskill
July 15, 2020
Read Later

Can we test speculations about how quantum physics affects black holes and the Big Bang?

Animation showing multiple particles of light flowing together and leaving blue trails
Abstractions blog

Graced With Knowledge, Mathematicians Seek to Understand

By Kevin Hartnett
April 8, 2020
Read Later

A landmark proof in computer science has also solved an important problem called the Connes embedding conjecture. Mathematicians are working to understand it.

Animation showing toy-like depictions of computer science, quantum mechanics and pure math affecting each other.
computational complexity

Landmark Computer Science Proof Cascades Through Physics and Math

By Kevin Hartnett
March 4, 2020
Read Later

Computer scientists established a new boundary on computationally verifiable knowledge. In doing so, they solved major open problems in quantum mechanics and pure mathematics.


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