From the journal Nature, October 22:
The firm says it has solved a problem on a quantum processor faster than a classical computer, and is optimistic about future scientific applications.
Google researchers have made a fresh claim of quantum advantage — the ability of quantum computers to radically speed up calculations compared with their classical counterparts.This is not the company’s first such claim. But the researchers say their latest algorithm — dubbed quantum echoes — has the potential to solve scientific problems, including deriving the structures of molecules. It could also, in theory, be replicated on another quantum computer.“This algorithm offers the opportunity for real-world applications,” said Hartmut Neven, who heads Google’s quantum-computing lab, in Santa Barbara, California, at a briefing for journalists ahead of the announcement. The firm is optimistic that in five years there will be practical uses for quantum computers, he added.But some researchers are cautious of the claim of quantum advantage, published in Nature on 22 October1. “The burden of proof should be high,” says Dries Sels, a quantum physicist at New York University in New York City. And although the paper does a “serious job” of testing various classical algorithms, there is no proof that an efficient one doesn’t exist. “Personally I don’t think that’s enough to make such a big claim,” he says.Others say that the promise of practical use so soon is premature. The technical advance is impressive, says James Whitfield, a quantum physicist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, but it is “a bit of a stretch to think how this is going to suddenly solve some economically viable problem”.Google researchers and their collaborators fleshed out how they could apply the algorithm to simple molecules in a preprint study that they have submitted to arXiv. They were able to predict certain features of the molecules’ structures using quantum simulations, and confirm their findings with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. But so far, they can only apply the method to molecules that can already be efficiently simulated classically, such as the aromatic liquid toluene....
....MUCH MORE
Way back in 2017 Nature was posting (and we were linking): "Google's Quantum AI Laboratory set out investment opportunities on the road to the ultimate quantum machines" (GOOG).
And in 2018 - "Google Chases Quantum Supremacy with 72 Qubit Processor"
This may be important. For quite a few years the point at which quantum computers would surpass conventional was assumed to be 54 qubits.
Then late last year it became apparent that conventional computers were still superior to quantum 'puters in most respects at the 54 qubit level. More after the jump.
November 2021 - "Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims"
And December 2024 - "Quantum Computing Inches Closer to Reality After Another Google Breakthrough" (GOOG)
Related October 2019 - "A new era of computing could bring about a 'quantum apocalypse'"
"'Our modern systems of finance, commerce,
communication, transportation, manufacturing, energy,
government, and
healthcare will for all intents and purposes cease to function,' cyber
security expert warns"
