3 ms·

I don't know if it is just "science journalism" badness or part of the "we promise quantum computing has use" propaganda, but "we used an extra inefficient comp

I don't know if it is just "science journalism" badness or part of the "we promise quantum computing has use" propaganda, but "we used an extra inefficient computer to model a theoretical wormhole" does not support the conclusion "this type of wormhole exists".

dotnet00 3y ago
The article is way too vague about what the researchers actually did to say anything useful about what their model says about the existence of wormholes, but usually the point of having used a quantum computer to model something is that it's done in a way that corresponds to something that can actually happen in reality. Unlike in a digital computer, where you need to have an idea of how the entire process works to simulate it, a quantum computer basically only needs you to understand the wave function, and the computer itself applies the quantum physics due to the nature of how it works. So, if you simulate a chemical reaction on a quantum computer, you're actually building the same wavefunction as would occur in reality and letting quantum mechanics "evaluate" it (thus giving you an actual physical result, barring all the imperfections of current quantum computers).
- lupire 3y ago
  Can you cite a resource that explains that? It doesn't sound right. A chemical reaction is far more complex than the few waves in a quantum computer.
  - dotnet00 3y ago
    This seems like a decent explanation of what I had in mind: https://oxsci.org/quantum-computing-for-quantum-chemistry/ https://oxsci.org/quantum-computing-for-quantum-chemistry/ and this one a slightly more math based explanation: https://ahelwer.ca/post/2019-12-21-quantum-chemistry/ https://ahelwer.ca/post/2019-12-21-quantum-chemistry/ I'm trying to recall another far less outlandish result (than wormholes) that was also verified via quantum computer, but no dice at the moment. Edit: I might've been thinking of the simulation of a discrete time crystal on Google's quantum computer: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/131 https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/131 'The researchers stress that this DTC behavior can also, in principle, be simulated on a classical computer. But in that case, “the bits in the computer evolve in a way that looks nothing like the physics we're interested in but nevertheless output numbers that replicate the outcomes of a hypothetical experiment,” Ippoliti says. In contrast, on a quantum computer, the qubits themselves exhibit the DTC behavior.'
seanhunter 3y ago
This is an old result but I think this is the original paper[1] and explanatory blog post[2]. Not qualified to comment, but iirc the explanation I heard here on hn was that their method was they emulated a "dual" of a wormhole in the quantum computer and then sort of did a leap of faith using some maths/physics arguments and said because it's a quantum computer and quantum magic yadda yadda the actual wormhole was therefore created. Other scientists in the field were nowhere near as convinced by this[3]. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3 [2]https://blog.research.google/2022/11/making-traversable-wormhole-with.html https://blog.research.google/2022/11/making-traversable-worm... [3] https://futurism.com/headlines-building-wormhole-nonsense https://futurism.com/headlines-building-wormhole-nonsense
- lupire 3y ago
  https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=true&query=Quantum%27s%20wormhole&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...

dotnet00 3y ago

The article is way too vague about what the researchers actually did to say anything useful about what their model says about the existence of wormholes, but usually the point of having used a quantum computer to model something is that it's done in a way that corresponds to something that can actually happen in reality. Unlike in a digital computer, where you need to have an idea of how the entire process works to simulate it, a quantum computer basically only needs you to understand the wave function, and the computer itself applies the quantum physics due to the nature of how it works. So, if you simulate a chemical reaction on a quantum computer, you're actually building the same wavefunction as would occur in reality and letting quantum mechanics "evaluate" it (thus giving you an actual physical result, barring all the imperfections of current quantum computers).

lupire 3y ago
Can you cite a resource that explains that? It doesn't sound right. A chemical reaction is far more complex than the few waves in a quantum computer.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  This seems like a decent explanation of what I had in mind: https://oxsci.org/quantum-computing-for-quantum-chemistry/ https://oxsci.org/quantum-computing-for-quantum-chemistry/ and this one a slightly more math based explanation: https://ahelwer.ca/post/2019-12-21-quantum-chemistry/ https://ahelwer.ca/post/2019-12-21-quantum-chemistry/ I'm trying to recall another far less outlandish result (than wormholes) that was also verified via quantum computer, but no dice at the moment. Edit: I might've been thinking of the simulation of a discrete time crystal on Google's quantum computer: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/131 https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/131 'The researchers stress that this DTC behavior can also, in principle, be simulated on a classical computer. But in that case, “the bits in the computer evolve in a way that looks nothing like the physics we're interested in but nevertheless output numbers that replicate the outcomes of a hypothetical experiment,” Ippoliti says. In contrast, on a quantum computer, the qubits themselves exhibit the DTC behavior.'

seanhunter 3y ago

This is an old result but I think this is the original paper[1] and explanatory blog post[2]. Not qualified to comment, but iirc the explanation I heard here on hn was that their method was they emulated a "dual" of a wormhole in the quantum computer and then sort of did a leap of faith using some maths/physics arguments and said because it's a quantum computer and quantum magic yadda yadda the actual wormhole was therefore created. Other scientists in the field were nowhere near as convinced by this[3]. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05424-3 [2]https://blog.research.google/2022/11/making-traversable-wormhole-with.html https://blog.research.google/2022/11/making-traversable-worm... [3] https://futurism.com/headlines-building-wormhole-nonsense https://futurism.com/headlines-building-wormhole-nonsense

lupire 3y ago
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=true&query=Quantum%27s%20wormhole&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...