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NIST researcher Andrew Wilson holds a surface-electrode ion trap used for quantum information processing. The computer screen behind Wilson shows three white dots, a live microscope image of three single atoms. They are held in a triangle pattern by an ion trap like the one Wilson is holding.

Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST

If youve gotten around with GPS, had an MRI, or tormented your cat with a laser pointer, quantum science is a part of your life.

Ahead of World Quantum Day this week, we asked Andrew Wilson, who leads NISTs Quantum Physics Division, to explain just what exactly quantum science is and why it matters.

Well, it means different things to different people. But it essentially comes down to using fundamental quantum properties to do great things. When people talk about using quantum, it generally comes down to two things:

Entanglement and superposition are resources for quantum computing. These are what make quantum computing powerful.

I think in the early days of quantum physics, there were ideas like the laser. Quantum physics underpins the laser, and the laser turns out to be rather important. It supports the internet. Quantum also comes into things like MRI imaging and semiconductor chips. So, we rely on quantum behavior to understand how these things work. Thats quantum physics. This early version of quantum physics is called semiclassical physics. And a lot of technology based on this uses superposition. Today, this is widely referred to as Quantum 1.0.

But as we physicists kept working on quantum systems, and getting better at making and controlling these, we started thinking, OK, maybe we can do useful things with entanglement. So, we added entanglement to the toolbox. Thats Quantum 2.0. Quantum 2.0 is about trying to capture the advantages and the practical applications of both superposition and entanglement. Were really trying to see how we can make entanglement practical. There will have to be many scientific breakthroughs, including fundamental science, for this kind of technology to be ubiquitous in our economy and society.

At the same time that progress was being made in labs, some clever people realized that this toolbox could be used for information processing. Quantum computing emerged from the coming together of clever ideas and advancements in labs, a mix of quantum physics and information science.

We can develop quantum computers, but what else can we do?

We can also use superposition and entanglement for improved sensors and communications. We can make quantum sensors that measure things more precisely than classical physics allows. We can communicate information in quantum form that is resistant to eavesdropping. The challenge with these Quantum 2.0 things is making them practical. There is much work to do, and its very exciting to see the progress being made.

Another thing that makes quantum interesting is that there are potential applications in many areas, far beyond physics. There are applications being pursued in chemistry, biology, health care, finance, transport, manufacturing and so forth. It can be a very interdisciplinary field. That makes it hard because each one of us only has a certain amount of expertise. On the other hand, the cool part is you get to collaborate with people who are experts in other things and learn from them.

Illustration of the quantum physics concept known as superposition. In the ordinary classical world, a skateboarder could be in only one location or position at a time, such as the left side of the ramp (which could represent a data value of 0) or the right side (representing a 1). But if a skateboarder could behave like a quantum object (such as an atom), he or she could be in a superposition of 0 and 1, effectively existing in both places at the same time.

Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST

People do tend to think of quantum as sort of a weird and abstract thing. Because most of the stuff we deal with in the real world pens, cars, coffee cups, etc. those things dont behave quantum mechanically in our everyday experience. Because quantum mechanics is not an everyday experience for most people, it can seem very strange.

But quantum is not just a theory, its just the way nature is. For those of us who work with this every day, its not mysterious or abstract. Its as practical as anything else that we deal with during the day, including pens and coffee.

As I said, there are lots of practical applications of quantum. There are parts of electronics that rely heavily on quantum mechanics. Health care, communication, lots of technology relies on it.

One of the most common practical applications is timekeeping. The only reason youre able to have a GPS on your phone or in your car is that youve got some atomic clocks in satellites. You may not know it, but youre using quantum superposition in those clocks, making sure you can figure out where youre going. So if Im supposed to be meeting my wife at a restaurant, and I dont know where it is, Im relying on quantum mechanics to get me there, to achieve that goal. This is an everyday use of quantum mechanics, looking at our phones and figuring out where were going.

Studying quantum may lead us to the next big thing, or a bunch of things, whatever the next laser or GPS may be. There are a lot of ideas out there for how we can use quantum, and people are frantically trying to figure out:

Economies are affected by Quantum 1.0, and theres a high probability that Quantum 2.0 will have another transformational impact. There are so many ideas floating around that people are excited about; thats why were doing this.

NIST specifically is doing this because we do measurement science to help spur innovation and competitiveness. People come to NIST with measurement problems, and often, we can overcome classical barriers to this measurement problem using quantum mechanics. Thats why NIST has been a leader in quantum mechanics since its earliest day because of the precision measurement involved.

The more you can measure something very precisely, the more you can make improvements to that technology. So theres a lovely cycle of measuring more precisely, improving the technology, and measuring more. But at some point, we hit the limit of the measurement scheme were using, and we have to develop a new approach. Measurement science is key to advancing technology. Thats how I think about it.

When I was a kid, I liked building and fixing things. My bike would break, and it was the way I got around, so I was highly motivated to figure out how to fix it. So, I pulled things apart and put them back together again. I tinkered with things. I had some people around me who had knowledge of electronics, and I started building little simple circuits or simple gadgets with little motors or lights.

I wanted to understand how things work. Why is it doing this thing? And I was curious and got drawn into things. It helps to have a high tolerance for being confused. I want to say that physicists are perpetually confused about the latest thing theyre thinking about, and that is the way we learn, right? Youre confused today. You figure something out, and youre very happy about this, but youll be confused by something new tomorrow!

When I got into the lab, I found I was pretty good at fixing things, making things work, and understanding why things dont work and fixing those things. So, when you have that kind of inclination, you wind up as an experimentalist.

NIST researcher Andrew Wilson points to an ion trap inside a glass vacuum envelope. This trap is used for quantum computing. It can confine more than one atomic element (beryllium and magnesium) at the same time. NIST pioneered this capability, and its now being used by companies working on quantum computing.

Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST

And as for quantum, its just cool, right? For example, I do a lot of work with lasers. Theres almost nothing cooler than lasers. If youve only seen the little red dots of a laser pointer, come into some of these labs, and youll see the most incredible colors in nature. Its basically a rainbow on steroids. Theyre so beautiful and just wonderful to be around. Theres also a profound sense of joy from seeing something that no one has ever seen before, sometimes a discovery that scientists have been seeking for decades.

The lab feels like a playground to me, albeit with a challenging scientific mission, hard work, long hours, occasional setbacks, and serious safety requirements that require careful following of protocols.

A lab is like Disneyland to an experimental physicist like me. When youre in the lab and you see on your screen a signal, an image, a trace of something, after all that hard work, its just a reminder of how incredible nature really is. Its better than any fiction book thats ever been written in my humble opinion. This work just draws you in.

And of course, were not just tinkering around here, were mission-driven. We push very hard; its also a very competitive field. Many of us like to compete.

Theres a ton of really great science being done and quantum technologies being developed. We now do things in the lab routinely that even just a few years ago we only dreamed about being able to do and didnt know how. We can implement important algorithms for quantum computing. We can build sensing-type devices with quantum performance far beyond what anyone has had before. We can communicate quantum information over greater distances and with better fidelity than ever before.

There are different sorts of quantum computers that many companies are now building. NIST is developing ideas and technologies that these companies will need in the future as they try to extend the capabilities of their machines.

Many things about how quantum technologies might evolve remain unclear, but we as scientists are just very patient, slowly chipping away at problems. When youre chasing after something really important, that can be massively transformative, you have to have a lot of resilience and grit.

Scientists hammer things out improve things by factors of two year after year. Its like a running a marathon. We have our 100-meter races, too, but quantum is really a sustained effort. NIST has had a sustained quantum effort for decades now.

As we begin to work on potential applications of quantum, were learning so much about things beyond quantum physics. Its exciting to support companies that are part of the emerging quantum industry and to see the creative ways they are advancing technologies. Perhaps we will be able to look back at this moment in time as when quantum revolutionized technology, in the same way that silicon chips and integrated circuits did in the 1960s and 70s. I hope so. We shall see.

See more here:

From GPS to Laser Pointers, Quantum Science Is All Around Us - NIST

Finding a theory of everything explaining all the forces and particles in the universe is arguably the holy grail of physics. While each of its main theories works extraordinarily well, they clash also with each other leaving physicists to search for a deeper, more fundamental theory.

But do we really need a theory of everything? And are we anywhere near achieving one? Thats what we discuss in the sixth and final episode of our Great Mysteries of Physics podcast hosted by me, Miriam Frankel, science editor at The Conversation, and supported by FQxI, the Foundational Questions Institute.

Our two best theories of nature are quantum mechanics and general relativity, describing the smallest and biggest scales of the universe, respectively. Each is tremendously successful and has been experimentally tested over and over. The trouble is, they are incompatible with one another in many ways including mathematically.

General relativity is all about geometry. Its how space is curved and how space-time this unified entity that contains three dimensions of space and one dimension of time is itself also curved, explains Vlatko Vedral, a professor of physics at Oxford University in the UK. Quantum physics is actually all about algebra.

Physicists have already managed to unite quantum theory with Einsteins other big theory: special relativity (explaining how speed affects mass, time and space). Together, these form a framework called quantum field theory, which is the basis for the Standard Model of Particle Physics our best framework for describing the most basic building blocks of the universe.

The standard model describes three out of the four fundamental forces in the universe electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces which govern the atomic nucleus excluding gravity.

While the standard model explains most of what we see in particle physics experiments, there are a few gaps. To bridge these, an extension called supersymmetry, suggesting particles are connected through a deep relationship, has been proposed. Supersymmetry suggests each particle has a super partner with the same mass, but opposite spin. Unfortunately, particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Switzerland have failed to find evidence of supersymmetry despite being explicitly designed to do so.

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On the other hand, there are recent hints from both LHC and Fermilab in the US suggesting that there may be a fifth force of nature. If these results could be replicated and confirmed as actual discoveries, that would have implications for uniting quantum mechanics and gravity.

I think [the discovery of a new force] would be amazing, says Vedral. It would challenge this thing that that has now existed for well over half a century that there are four fundamental forces.

Vedral argues the first thing to do if we discovered a fifth force would be to establish whether it can be described by quantum mechanics.

If it could, it would indicate that quantum theory might ultimately be more fundamental than general relativity, accounting for four out of five forces suggesting general relativity ultimately may need to be modified. If it couldnt, that would shake up physics suggesting we may need to modify quantum mechanics, too.

But what should a theory of everything include? Would it be enough to unite gravity and quantum mechanics? And what about other mysterious properties such as dark energy, which causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate, or dark matter, an invisible substance making up most of the matter in the universe?

As Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire in the US, explains, physicists prefer to use the term theory of quantum gravity over theory of everything.

Dark matter and dark energy are most of the matter energy content in the universe. So its not really a theory of everything if its not accounting for most of the matter energy content in the universe, she argues. This is why Im glad we dont actually use theory of everything in our work.

Although they might not explain everything, several proposed theories of quantum gravity exist. One is string theory, which suggests the universe is ultimately made up of tiny, vibrating strings. Another is loop quantum gravity, which suggests Einsteins space-time arises from quantum effects.

One of the strengths that people will point to with string theory is that string theory built on quantum field theory, explains Prescod-Weinstein. It brings the whole standard model with it, which loop quantum gravity doesnt do in the same way. But string theory also has its weaknesses, she argues, such as requiring extra dimensions that weve never seen any evidence of.

The theories are difficult to test experimentally requiring much more energy than we can produce in any laboratory. Vedral argues that while we ultimately cant directly probe the tiny scales needed to find evidence for theories of quantum gravity, it may be possible to amplify such effects so that we could indirectly observe them on larger scales with table-top experiments.

You can listen to Great Mysteries of Physics via any of the apps listed above, our RSS feed, or find out how else to listen here. You can also read a transcript of the episode here.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Vlatko Vedral has had funding from The Templeton and the Moore Foundations. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein has had funding from the NSF, DoE, NASA, FQxI and Heising-Simons Foundation. She is a member of the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, FQxI, NASEM Elementary Particle Physics: Progress and Promise Committee

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Great Mysteries of Physics: do we really need a theory of everything? - Yahoo News UK

The U.S. National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA) is now four years old and the second World Quantum Day 4.14.23 is on Friday. Yes, it was chosen because the date 4.14 is a rounding of Plancks constant which is so foundational in quantum mechanics. While WQD activities are only loosely coordinated and lean heavily towards educational outreach, there are a few reports being issued to commemorate the day and demonstrate value.

WQD describes itself as, an initiative from quantum scientists from 65+ countries. It is a decentralized and bottom-up initiative, inviting all scientists, engineers, educators, communicators, entrepreneurs, technologists, historians, philosophers, artists, museologists, producers, etc., and their organisations, to develop their own activities, such as outreach talks, exhibitions, lab tours, panel discussions, interviews, artistic creations, etc., to celebrate the World Quantum Day around the World.

Its tough to get a bead on WQD activities because they are so diverse and self-directing. That said, at least one of the five National Quantum Information Sciences (NQIS) Centers created by the NQIA the Quantum System Accelerator (QSA) based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories posted an article recapping its progress to date, following closely on the heels of a formal QSA Impact Report issued in March.

Both the article and report provide glimpse into the scope of activities being undertaken by the NQIS centers. QSA is highlighting five of its efforts. Here are three:

Other NQIS centers have periodically released similar kinds of reports and the WQD activities perhaps present a good moment to check out what the centers are up to. Listed below are brief descriptions of the NQIS centers, excerpted from DoE web site:

Q-NEXT Next Generation Quantum Science and Engineering

Director:David AwschalomLead Institution:Argonne National Laboratory

Q-NEXT will create a focused, connected ecosystem to deliver quantum interconnects, to establish national foundries, and to demonstrate communication links, networks of sensors, and simulation testbeds. In addition to enabling scientific innovation, Q-NEXT will build a quantum-smart workforce, create quantum standards by building a National Quantum Devices Database, and provide pathways to the practical commercialization of quantum technology by embedding industry in all aspects of its operations and incentivizing start-ups.

C2QA Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage

Director:Andrew HouckLead Institution:Brookhaven National Laboratory

C2QA aims to overcome the limitations of todays noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) computer systems to achieve quantum advantage for scientific computations in high-energy, nuclear, chemical and condensed matter physics. The integrated five-year goal of C2QA is to deliver a factor of 10 improvement in each of software optimization, underlying materials and device properties, and quantum error correction, and to ensure these improvements combine to provide a factor of 1,000 improvement in appropriate computation metrics.

SQMS Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center

Director:Anna GrassellinoLead Institution:Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

The primary mission of SQMS is to achieve transformational advances in the major crosscutting challenge of understanding and eliminating the decoherence mechanisms in superconducting 2D and 3D devices, with the goal of enabling construction and deployment of superior quantum systems for computing and sensing. In addition to the scientific advances, SQMS will target tangible deliverables in the form of unique foundry capabilities and quantum testbeds for materials, physics, algorithms, and simulations that could broadly serve the national QIS ecosystem.

QSA Quantum Systems Accelerator

Director: Rick MullerLead Institution: Sandia National Laboratories

QSA aims to co-design the algorithms, quantum devices, and engineering solutions needed to deliver certified quantum advantage in scientific applications. QSAs multi-disciplinary team will pair advanced quantum prototypesbased on neutral atoms, trapped ions, and superconducting circuitswith algorithms specifically constructed for imperfect hardware to demonstrate optimal applications for each platform in scientific computing, materials science, and fundamental physics. The QSA will deliver a series of prototypes to broadly explore the quantum technology trade-space, laying the basic science foundation to accelerate the maturation of commercial technologies.

QSC The Quantum Science Center

Director:Travis HumbleLead Institution:Oak Ridge National Laboratory

QSC is dedicated to overcoming key roadblocks in quantum state resilience, controllability, and ultimately scalability of quantum technologies. This goal will be achieved through integration of the discovery, design, and demonstration of revolutionary topological quantum materials, algorithms, and sensors, catalyzing development of disruptive technologies. In addition to the scientific goals, integral to the activities of the QSC are development of the next generation of QIS workforce by creating a rich environment for professional development and close coordination with industry to transition new QIS applications to the private sector.

See the article here:

World Quantum Day A Chance to Look in on NQIS Centers - HPCwire

In a recent panel hosted by The Information in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, several experts took a look at where artificial intelligence is now and where its going. Amir Efrati, executive editor at the Information, acted as moderator. The panelists included AI experts from the worlds of customer support, technology, entertainment and investing:

Isaiah Jenkins is senior manager of startup programming and employee engagement for Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs.

Deon Nicholas is CEO and co-founder of Forethought, which produces generative AI for customer support.

Jadyn Bryden is a vice president of XFund, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on forming partnerships between venture capital firms and research universities.

Sara Hooker leads Cohere For AI, a nonprofit research lab that solves complex machine-learning problems.

The Most Exciting Uses for AI Now and in the Near Future

The panelists first tackled a scenario thats literally life and death: how AI can help speed medical diagnoses and make them more accurate. Sara Hooker laid out the scenario where medically trained AI can be most helpfulin remote areas that dont have access to doctors or hospitals. But she noted that AI-generated diagnoses also come with risks of inaccuracy.

The antidote, said Deon Nicholas, is creating more-specialized data sets. Sometimes models like chatbots can confidently spew nonsense. You dont want somebody getting the wrong diagnosis. Anytime lives or livelihoods are at stake, were going to need more of these next-generation proprietary models built on these specific data sets because theyre going to be more correct.

How Can Startups Get In on the AI Action?

Beyond medical applications, theres another group deeply interested in generative AI: startups. While a lot of new tech companies are eager to capitalize on the AI gold rush, what will make them successful? As with any other business, the key is differentiation. And whats different for AI now is producing new, proprietary data sets that enhance already available information. Bryden said shes also interested in companies that improve and organize current platforms. At a time like this, the startups that are really going to succeed are the ones doing what we call a picks and shovels play. Instead of trying to pick out whos going to be the company that strikes gold, you want to invest in the companies that enable the underlying levers of established AI platforms.

Pushing the Limits of Science

Coding and science are two other areas where AI has great potential. As Nicholas mentioned, now a developer can write code that talks back and helps them figure out what the next iteration of code could be. But AI may have even greater implications for science. Nicholas showed excitement about AIs ability to help us increase our understanding of the world. For the first time ever, people have the ability to query AI to help them with that research process. Lets say you wanted to push the boundaries of, say, quantum physics. What if you could ingest all of the dilemmas and theories of quantum physics? You wont necessarily have AI figure it out for you, but you could ask it, OK, what do I need to think about next? That is a shift forward for humanity.

AI as the Creative Muse

AI can not only inform but inspire. While the next Hollywood blockbuster probably wont rely on it, AI might very well offer prompts for scripts. Nicholas says writers are already using it as a creative muse. Theres this really interesting shift in how were going to do creative work with the power of generative AI. It can generate content. It can help you with the creative process.

Has AI Gone Too Far?

With the release of GPT4, natural language took such a huge leap forward that some people thought it warranted a pause in development. Two thousand expertsmany of whom had business interests that competed with ChatGPTcited the profound risks to society and humanity it posed. But is this fear warranted? And more importantly, has the train already left the station? Nicholas said, Its hard to put the genie back in the bottle. And I argue that even the mere fact that were having this much conversation about it is a good thing because it gives the public time to understand whats going on and then react to it. Bryden agreed: Its simply impossible to slow this down. People are excited about it.

Did you miss the panel? You cancatch the full replay on our site.

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Event Recap: What's Next for Generative AI - The Information