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Advanced quantum detectors are reinventing the search for dark matter

When it comes to understanding the universe, what we know is only a sliver of the whole picture.

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Electrons that lag behind nuclei in 2D materials could pave way for novel electronics

One of the great successes of 20th-century physics was the quantum mechanical description of solids. This allowed scientists to understand for the first time how and why certain materials conduct electric current and how these properties could be purposefully modified. For instance, semiconductors such as silicon could be used to produce transistors, which revolutionized electronics […]

Solving quantum computing’s longstanding ‘no cloning’ problem with an encryption workaround

A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo have made a breakthrough in quantum computing that elegantly bypasses the fundamental “no cloning” problem. The research, “Encrypted Qubits can be Cloned,” appears in Physical Review Letters.

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Error-correction technology to turn quantum computing into real-world power

Ripples spreading across a calm lake after raindrops fall—and the way ripples from different drops overlap and travel outward—is one image that helps us picture how a quantum computer handles information.

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New framework unifies space and time in quantum systems

Quantum mechanics and relativity are the two pillars of modern physics. However, for over a century, their treatment of space and time has remained fundamentally disconnected. Relativity unifies space and time into a single fabric called spacetime, describing it seamlessly. In contrast, traditional quantum theory employs different languages: quantum states (density matrix) for spatial systems […]

Researchers build plasma accelerator that boosts electron energy and brightness at the same time

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), have designed innovative technology that can generate both high-energy and high-brightness electron bunches in an accelerator that is a fraction of the size of current particle accelerators.

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Worms as particle sweepers: How simple movement, not intelligence, drives environmental order

When observing small worms under a microscope, one might observe something very surprising: the worms appear to make a sweeping motion to clean their own environment. Physicists at the University of Amsterdam, Georgia Tech and Sorbonne Université/CNRS have now discovered the reason for this unexpected behavior.

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Metal–metal bonded molecule achieves stable spin qubit state, opening path toward quantum computing materials

Researchers at Kumamoto University, in collaboration with colleagues in South Korea and Taiwan, have discovered that a unique cobalt-based molecule with metal–metal bonds can function as a spin quantum bit (spin qubit)—a fundamental unit for future quantum computers. The findings provide a new design strategy for molecular materials used in quantum information technologies.

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Fault-tolerant quantum computing: Novel protocol efficiently reduces resource cost

Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could soon outperform classical computers on some complex computational problems. These computers rely on qubits, units of quantum information that share states with each other via a quantum mechanical effect known as entanglement.

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Making sense of quantum gravity in five dimensions

Quantum theory and Einstein’s theory of general relativity are two of the greatest successes in modern physics. Each works extremely well in its own domain: Quantum theory explains how atoms and particles behave, while general relativity describes gravity and the structure of spacetime. However, despite many decades of effort, scientists still do not have a […]

Sudden breakups of monogamous quantum couples surprise researchers

Quantum particles have a social life, of a sort. They interact and form relationships with each other, and one of the most important features of a quantum particle is whether it is an introvert—a fermion—or an extrovert—a boson.

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Quantum spins team up to create stable, long-lived microwave signals

When quantum particles work together, they can produce signals far stronger than any one particle could generate alone. This collective phenomenon, called superradiance, is a powerful example of cooperation at the quantum level. Until now, superradiance was mostly known for making quantum systems lose their energy too quickly, posing challenges for quantum technologies.

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Tokamak experiments exceed plasma density limit, offering new approach to fusion ignition

Researchers working on China’s fully superconducting Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) have experimentally accessed a theorized “density-free regime” for fusion plasmas, achieving stable operation at densities well beyond conventional limits.

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Physicists repair flaw of established quantum resource theorem

Quantum information theory is a field of study that examines how quantum technologies store and process information. Over the past decades, researchers have introduced several new quantum information frameworks and theories that are informing the development of quantum computers and other devices that operate leveraging quantum mechanical effects.

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Real-life experiment shows Niels Bohr was right in a theoretical debate with Einstein

Scientists in China have performed an experiment first proposed by Albert Einstein almost a century ago when he sought to disprove the quantum mechanical principle of complementarity put forth by Niels Bohr and his school of physicists. Bohr claimed there are properties of particles that cannot simultaneously be measured. The new result backs up the […]