Researchers from Google Quantum AI report that their quantum processor, Willow, ran an algorithm for a quantum computer that solved a complex physics problem thousands of times faster than the world’s most powerful classical supercomputers. If verified, this would be one of the first demonstrations of practical quantum advantage, in which a quantum computer solves a real-world problem faster and more accurately than a classical computer.
In a new paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers provided details on how their algorithm, called Quantum Echoes, measured the complex behavior of particles in highly entangled quantum systems. These are systems in which multiple particles are linked so that they share the same fate even when physically separated. If you measure the property of one particle, you instantly know something about the others. This linkage makes the overall system so complex that it is difficult to model on ordinary computers.
The Quantum Echoes algorithm uses a concept called an Out-of-Time-Order Correlator (OTOC), which measures how quickly information spreads and scrambles in a quantum system. The researchers chose this specific measurement because, as they state in the paper, “OTOCs have quantum interference effects that endow them with a high sensitivity to details of the quantum dynamics and, for OTOC, also high levels of classical simulation complexity. As such, OTOCs are viable candidates for realizing practical quantum advantage.”
How did the universe come into being? There are a multitude of theories on this subject. In a Physical Review Letters paper, three scientists formulate a new model: according to this, inflation, the first, very rapid expansion of the universe, would have taken place in a warm environment consisting of known elementary particles.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials, sparked by the isolation of Nobel-prize-winning graphene in 2004, has revolutionized modern materials science by showing that electrical, optical, and mechanical behaviors can be tuned simply by adjusting the thickness, strain, or stacking order of such 2D materials. From transistors and flexible display to neuromorphic chips, the future of electronics is expected to be significantly empowered by 2D materials.
In a new study published in Nano Letters titled “Pressure-Driven Metallicity in Ångström-Thickness 2D Bismuth and Layer-Selective Ohmic Contact to MoS2,” researchers led by SUTD have discovered that a gentle squeeze is enough to make bismuth—one of the heaviest elements in the periodic table—switch its electrical personality.
Using state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) simulations, the team showed that when a single layer of bismuth, only a few atoms thick, is compressed or “squeezed” between surrounding materials, the atoms reorganize from a slightly corrugated (or buckled) structure into a perfectly flat one. This structural flattening, though subtle, has dramatic electronic consequences: it eliminates the energy band gap and allows electrons to move freely, turning the material metallic.
A collaborative team of physicists and microbiologists from UNIST and Stanford University has, for the first time, uncovered the fundamental laws governing the distribution of self-propelled particles, such as bacteria.
Published in Physical Review Letters, this breakthrough has been jointly led by Professor Joonwoo Jeong in the UNIST Department of Physics, Professor Robert J. Mitchell in the UNIST Department of Biological Sciences, and Professor Sho C. Takatori at Stanford University.
The study reveals that the distribution of living bacteria is governed by a delicate balance between their motility and their affinity for specific liquid environments. Interestingly, the findings highlight a phenomenon consistent with the like-attracts-like principle.
Superhydrophobic materials offer a strategy for developing marine anti-corrosion materials due to their low solid-liquid contact area and low surface energy. However, existing superhydrophobic anti-corrosion materials often suffer from poor mechanical stability and inadequate long-term protection, limiting their practical application in real-world environments.
Plastics pose a significant waste problem: many conventional plastics do not degrade, or do so only with great difficulty. This makes research into new plastics essential—materials that retain useful properties but can also be deliberately broken down or recycled. Such innovations could lead to more sustainable materials, enabling the use of plastics in a way that conserves resources over the long term.
According to a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, incorporating sulfur atoms into polymer chains makes them more degradable.
Sulfur atoms enhance the sustainability of polymers because the bonds between carbon and sulfur atoms are easier to break than the bonds between carbon and other carbon or oxygen atoms. This allows sulfur-containing plastics to degrade under relatively mild conditions. However, strategies for synthesizing these plastics are still underdeveloped, which hinders large-scale production.
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are fascinating states of matter that emerge when atoms or molecules are cooled to extremely low temperatures just slightly above absolute zero (0 K). In 2023, physicists at Columbia University realized BECs comprised of ultracold molecules for the very first time.
Building on their work, another research group at TU Wien and the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology recently set out to investigate the behavior of these ultracold dipolar molecules, while also exploring the possibility that they could spontaneously organize themselves into new forms of matter. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, suggest that new correlated states could emerge in ultracold polar molecules, showing that these states could be probed in future experiments.
“BECs of ultracold polar molecules were a decade-long goal, but have only been realized experimentally very recently,” Matteo Ciardi, co-author of the paper, told Phys.org.