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In case you missed it, theres a fascinating interview with John Preskill, the prominent Caltech physicist and pioneering quantum computing researcher that was recently posted by CERNs department of experimental physics. You may recall it was Preskill who coined the NISQ label (noisy intermediate scale quantum) in his 2018 paper, Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond, which was based on an earlier keynote talk. That paper is very much still worth reading.

Preskill covers a wide range of quantum (and physics) topics in the CERN interview with Panos Charitos. From his early roots in physics and quantum computing to using QIS (quantum information science) to the emergence of space-time, to the failure to fund and build the Superconducting Super Collider project.

Just to whet your appetite, here are a few soundbites taken from more lengthy responses on the cited topics (and there are many more topics):

Quantum Information Science Impact on Science. In the realm of quantum gravity, quantum error correction has been equally transformative. The most concrete idea we have about quantum gravity is the holographic duality, where a bulk geometry is equivalent to a boundary theory in one less dimension. The relationship between bulk quantum gravity and the non-gravitational boundary theory can be viewed as a kind of quantum error-correcting code.

Quantum Computers Now. Todays quantum computers based on superconducting electrical circuits have up to a few hundred qubits. However, noise remains a significant issue, with error rates only slightly better than 1% per two-qubit gate, making it challenging to utilize all these qubits effectively. Additionally, neutral atom systems held in optical tweezers are advancing rapidly. At Caltech, a group recently built a system with over 6,000 qubits, although its not yet capable of computation. These platforms werent considered competitive five to ten years ago but have advanced swiftly due to theoretical and technological innovations.

Deeper Insight into Physics. While we are gaining new insights into quantum physics, these insights arent necessarily about the foundational aspects of quantum mechanics itself. Instead, they pertain to how quantum mechanics operates in complex systems. This understanding is crucial because it could lead to new technologies and innovative ways of comprehending the world around us. Quantum computers, in particular, will help us broaden our understanding of emergent space-time. They will allow us to explore when and under what conditions emergent space-time can occur, especially in situations where we currently lack the analytical tools to compute whats happening.

A few days after this interview it was announced that the Eight Biennial John Stewart Bell Prize for Research on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and Their Applications will be awarded to John Preskill (Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics,California Institute of Technology)at the10th International Conference on Quantum Information and Quantum Control.

Link to CERN EP interview, https://ep-news.web.cern.ch/content/depth-conversation-john-preskill

See the original post:
Quantum Watchers Terrific Interview with Caltechs John Preskill by CERN - HPCwire