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Title: Google's Quantum Computer Makes a Big Technical Leap

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/22/1...

Google announced Wednesday that its quantum computer achieved the first
verifiable quantum advantage, running a new algorithm 13,000 times faster
than a top supercomputer. The algorithm, called Quantum Echoes, was published
in the journal Nature. The results can be replicated on another quantum
computer of similar quality, something Google had not demonstrated before.
The quantum computer uses a chip called Willow, which was announced in
December 2024. Hartmut Neven, head of Google's Quantum AI research lab,
called the work a demonstration of the first algorithm with verifiable
quantum advantage and a milestone on the software track. Michel H. Devoret,
who won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics and joined Google in 2023, said
future quantum computers will run calculations impossible with classical
algorithms. Google stopped short of claiming the work would have practical
uses on its own. Instead, the company said Quantum Echoes demonstrated a
technique that could be applied to other algorithms in drug discovery and
materials science. A second paper published Wednesday on arXiv showed how the
method could be applied to nuclear magnetic resonance. The experiment
involved a relatively small quantum system that fell short of full practical
quantum advantage because it was not able to work faster than a traditional
computer. Google exhaustively red-teamed the research, putting some
researchers to work trying to disprove its own results. Prineha Narang, a
professor at UCLA, called the advance meaningful. The quantum computer tested
two molecules, one with 15 atoms and another with 28 atoms. Results on the
quantum computer matched traditional NMR and revealed information not usually
available from NMR. Google's research competes against Microsoft, IBM,
universities and efforts in China. The Chinese government has committed more
than $15.2 billion to quantum research. Previous claims of quantum advantage
have been met with skepticism.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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