{"id":86477,"date":"2025-10-17T12:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T12:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/86477\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T12:09:07","slug":"scientists-claim-quantum-computing-works-and-can-prove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/86477\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists claim quantum computing works and can prove it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t \"Baidu <\/p>\n

The current state of quantum computing is that researchers have discovered a way to prove quantum computers actually exist, writes Jason Walsh<\/p>\n

Blogs<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n Image: Baidu <\/p>\n

Understanding the state of quantum computing is a tricky business. Never mind that they operate on principles quite divorced from the mental model we use to understand the workings of \u2018classical\u2019, which is to say \u2018ordinary\u2019, computers, the very existence of quantum computing is controversial.<\/p>\n

Companies including IBM, Microsoft and Google are spending on their development, and the share values of quantum specialists like IonQ, D-Wave and Rigetti have speculatively surged of late, but doubts remain about the utility of quantum computing.<\/p>\n

For a start, there is the issue of quantum computing being extremely credulity-friendly, and that journalists \u2013 myself included \u2013 are ill-equipped to interrogate what is being said.<\/p>\n

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Think claims made for and against artificial intelligence (AI) are extraordinary? Wait until you get a load of this, buddy! Quantum computers will, we are told, render all existing encryption useless. The security implications of this are obvious \u2013 and terrifying \u2013 but it would also mean we\u2019d be waving\u00a0 bye-bye to Bitcoin, by the way. They\u2019ll revolutionise drug discovery, crack climate modelling, and optimise everything from traffic flows to financial markets (arguably thus making them collapse).<\/p>\n

More seriously, there remains the question of whether or not quantum computers actually exist. Do they? Yes and no.<\/p>\n

Quantum machines exist in labs, but for now they mostly tackle \u2018toy\u2019 problems. In addition, D-Wave sells quantum annealers that use quantum effects but don\u2019t perform general-purpose computations; whether they outperform classical algorithms remains disputed.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Google claimed its Sycamore chip achieved \u2018quantum supremacy\u2019 by solving a specific task in 200 seconds that it said would take a classical supercomputer 10,000 years. IBM quickly countered that, with optimisation, a classical system could do it in days.<\/p>\n

Two things can be true at the same time<\/p>\n

Quantum computers use \u2018qubits\u2019 rather than the ones and zeros of classical bits. Thanks to quantum mechanics, qubits can be both one and zero simultaneously, allowing these machines to process multiple possibilities at once, at least in theory.<\/p>\n

Now, however, researchers from Leiden, Beijing and Hangzhou have developed what they have nicknamed<\/a> a quantum lie detector. Using a test designed by physicist John Bell, they\u2019ve verified that large quantum systems \u2013 up to 73 qubits \u2013 genuinely obey quantum mechanics rather than just mimicking quantum behaviour.<\/p>\n

The team measured quantum correlations that would be impossible in classical systems, far beyond what classical physics would allow. The researchers said they certified \u2018genuine multipartite Bell correlations\u2019 in systems up to 24 qubits \u2013 a rare type where all qubits must be quantumly entangled together.<\/p>\n

So quantum computers exist in the sense that these machines genuinely operate according to quantum mechanics rather than just simulating quantum-like behavior. That\u2019s not nothing: it means the underlying physics works as claimed, which matters when money is being invested.<\/p>\n

But does proving a machine is authentically quantum mean it can solve real problems? Not necessarily. The test confirms these systems exhibit genuine quantum correlations \u2013 something classical computers cannot replicate \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t prove they can tackle useful tasks that classical computers can\u2019t handle more efficiently.<\/p>\n

The researchers themselves frame this as a step toward \u2018making sure quantum computers are truly quantum\u2019.<\/p>\n

Whether they\u2019ll ever justify the extraordinary claims made for them \u2013 the encryption-breaking, drug-discovering, market-optimising revolution we\u2019ve been promised \u2013 remains an open question.<\/p>\n

Read More: Blog<\/a> Blogs<\/a> Jason Walsh<\/a> quantum computing<\/a><\/p>\n


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