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I've always found it to be a bit of a stretch when they say they've demonstrated a new phase of matter when the phase is being simulated by a quantum computer.
by gaze 3y ago
I've always found it to be a bit of a stretch when they say they've demonstrated a new phase of matter when the phase is being simulated by a quantum computer. They've simulated the phase -- but then you get into the same argument of "what is and isn't a simulation of a phase of matter" which is really tiresome.
- themgt 3y agoWay over my pay grade, but they appear to be claiming this is not just a simulation. Whether you agree may depend on your metaphysics. > These experiments go beyond merely simulating non-Abelian order and statistics. As we elaborate in A1, the data obtained from prior benchmarking [36] is compatible with the fact that both the quantum operations as well as the dominant imperfections follow the 2D geometry to which the qubits are assigned. Thus, the ions are entangled in precisely the same way as the low-energy states of Eq. (1), making them indistinguishable from states arising in the low-temperature limit of, e.g., a solid-state system governed by the same Hamiltonian. Ground state degeneracy then refers to the number of locally indistinguishable states, while anyons are local deformations which cannot be individually created by a local process. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.03766.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.03766.pdf
- tmvphil 3y agoCalling it a demonstration of a "phase" or "order" is fine to me, but IMO calling it "matter" is misleading. "Matter" to me implies some degree of passive existence. This is about as far from passive thing as possible.
- danparsonson 3y agoHow do you feel about plasma?
- gaze 3y agoit's the ground state of a system that has a big ol classical computer in it. Ideally I'd like to see it as the ground state of some simple hamiltonian with rashba and a magnetic field and some proximitized thing or whatever
- btilly 3y agoMore to the point, theoretically they should be able to build quantum computers that don't need error correction. If so, then down the road this will allow us to scale usable qbits much faster than our existing technologies. Which makes the prospect of usable quantum computers much more likely.
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