The U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) today announced funding to pioneer a new approach to studying chemistry and materials. The Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry (QC3) program aims to develop quantum algorithms to revolutionize diverse areas of energy research, such as designing new and sustainable industrial catalysts, discovering new superconductors for more efficient electricity transmission, and developing improved battery chemistries.

Scientists at EPFL have made a breakthrough in designing arrays of resonators, the basic components that power quantum technologies. This innovation could create smaller, more precise quantum devices.

Using a novel type of quantum computer, Martin Ringbauer’s experimental team at the University of Innsbruck, and the theory group led by Christine Muschik at IQC at the University of Waterloo, Canada report in a publication in the journal Nature Physics how they have successfully simulated a complete quantum field theory in more than one spatial dimension.

Is there a contradiction between quantum theory and thermodynamics? On the surface, yes - but at TU Wien, researchers have now shown how the two fit together perfectly.

It is often difficult to find out which equations determine a particular quantum system. Normally, one first has to make theoretical assumptions and then conduct experiments to check whether these assumptions prove correct. Strikingly, researchers at the University of Innsbruck, opens an external URL in a new window, the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, opens an external URL in a new window (IQOQI) and TU Wien (Vienna) have now jointly achieved an important step in this field: they have developed a method that allows them to read directly from the experiment which physical theory effectively describes the behaviour of the quantum system. This now allows for a new kind of quality control: it is possible to directly check whether the quantum simulator actually does what it is supposed to simulate. This should enable quantitative statements to be made about quantum systems that cannot be investigated directly.

It has been proven, in the incredibly tiny quantum realm, by an international team co-led by UC Santa Cruz physicist Jairo Velasco, Jr. In a new paper published on November 27 in Nature, the researchers detail an experiment that confirms a theory first put forth 40 years ago stating that electrons confined in quantum space would move along common paths rather than producing a chaotic jumble of trajectories.

The close relationship between AI and high-performance scientific computing can be seen in the fact that both the 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry were awarded to scientists for their AI-related research contributions in their respective fields of study. KAIST researchers succeeded in dramatically reducing the computation time for highly sophisticated quantum mechanical computer simulations by predicting atomic-level chemical bonding information distributed in 3D space using a novel AI approach.

Now, those researchers have determined why they were able to trounce the quantum computer at its own game. Their answer, presented on October 29 in Physical Review Letters, reveals that the quantum problem they tackled — involving a particular two-dimensional quantum system of flipping magnets — displays a behavior known as confinement. This behavior had previously been seen in quantum condensed matter physics only in one-dimensional systems.

An international research team led by NYU Tandon School of Engineering and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) has pioneered a new technique to identify and characterize atomic-scale defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a two-dimensional (2D) material often dubbed "white graphene" for its remarkable properties.

Quantum theory describes events that take place on extremely short time scales. In the past, such events were regarded as ‘momentary’ or ‘instantaneous’: An electron orbits the nucleus of an atom – in the next moment it is suddenly ripped out by a flash of light. Two particles collide – in the next moment they are suddenly ‘quantum entangled’.Today, however, the temporal development of such almost ‘instantaneous’ effects can be investigated. Together with research teams from China, TU Wien (Vienna) has developed computer simulations that can be used to simulate ultrafast processes. This makes it possible to find out how quantum entanglement arises on a time scale of attoseconds. The results have now been published in the journal ‘Physical Review Letters’.