(ORDO NEWS) — The computing power of modern supercomputers is colossal, but there are still tasks that are too tough for them.
For example, mathematical models of quantum phenomena, even for systems of dozens of elements, are incredibly complex, and in order to make breakthroughs in physics, simulations of hundreds and thousands of particles at the same time are sometimes required.
Analog computers that simulate various quantum effects can come to the rescue.
To predict the movement of celestial bodies, it is possible to create a detailed physical and mathematical model that takes into account all possible gravitational interactions of astronomical objects of interest to us.
The task is understandable and solvable, but requires knowledge of astronomy, physics, mathematics and considerable computing power.
It is we who are now spoiled with high-performance personal computers that easily run solar system simulators.
And just half a century ago, it was objectively easier to make a mechanical model in which the periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun and satellites around the planets would be determined by the gear ratio of the gears.
Oddly enough, such layouts easily turned out to be more accurate than numerical simulations, since the latter had to be done with certain simplifications.
This is the principle of an analog computer – to build an equivalent with the desired physical properties, when the solution of the same problem requires too much computational resources of microelectronics.
Such a trick can also be performed with quantum phenomena, but the analogue will need to be made in such a way that they also appear in it.
It will still require ultra-low temperatures and certain tweaks to make it comfortable to work with.
But you can not fight over the difficulties with maintaining the state of qubits in “true quantum systems.” At the same time, it is possible to simulate the states of such systems.
And the potential efficiency of such a “quantum analog computer” is incomparably lower than that of a “classical” supercomputer in modeling the microworld.
The first ever building block of a “quantum analog computer” that can potentially be used to create an entire chip from many standard elements has been developed in the United States.
The pioneers in this field belong to an international team of researchers from Stanford (USA) and the University of Paris-Saclay (France), as well as University College Dublin (Ireland).
The structure created by the researchers is actually ready for scaling, the technological process for its “printing” can be adapted for industry by analogy with photolithography.
It consists of two metal “islands”, which are controlled through two gates, two quantum point contacts are brought to them.
Inside each of them, a two-dimensional degenerate electron gas is formed, the parameters of which can be controlled.
The resulting cell can occupy two charged states, which serve as an analogue of the half-integer spin of the simulated element of the quantum system.
What is most interesting, even before the development was tried to be used as a full-fledged analog computer from several of these elements, it had already helped to make a discovery in quantum physics.
During the experiment, the researchers were able to obtain a new state of matter – electrons with only one-third of their normal charge.
Such particles are called Z3 parafermions, and their existence was previously predicted theoretically.
The potential benefit of the “quantum analog computer” for modern science is invaluable. First of all, scientists hope to use it to find new superconducting materials.
Even if they are not high-temperature, that is, they require cooling “only” to minus 77 degrees Celsius, this will already be a breakthrough.
At the present level, a significant part of the superconductors calculated by the available models was obtained in the laboratory, progress has stalled.
And more advanced models require an exponential increase in the computing power of supercomputers to calculate.
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