A quantum computer has simulated a wormhole for the first time
Researchers have used Google's Sycamore quantum computer to simulate a simplified wormhole for the first time, and sent a piece of quantum information through it
A quantum computer has been used to simulate a holographic wormhole for the first time. In this case, the word “holographic” indicates a way to simplify physics problems involving both quantum mechanics and gravity, not a literal hologram, so simulations like this could help us understand how to combine those two concepts into a theory of quantum gravity – perhaps the toughest and most important problem in physics right now.
Both quantum mechanics, which governs the very small, and general relativity, which describes gravity and the very large, are extraordinarily successful in their respective realms, but these two fundamental theories do not fit together. This incompatibility is particularly apparent in areas where both theories should apply, such as in and around black holes.
These areas are extraordinarily complicated, and that is where holography comes in. It allows physicists to create a less complex system that is equivalent to the original, similar to how a two-dimensional hologram can show three-dimensional details.
Maria Spiropulu at the California Institute of Technology and her colleagues used Google’s Sycamore quantum computer to simulate a holographic wormhole – a tunnel through space-time with black holes at either end. They simulated a type of wormhole through which a message could theoretically pass, and examined the process by which such a message could make that journey.
In a real wormhole, that journey would be largely mediated by gravity, but the holographic wormhole uses quantum effects as a substitute for gravity to remove relativity from the equation and simplify the system. That means that when the message passes through the wormhole, it is actually undergoing quantum teleportation – a process by which information about quantum states can be sent between two distant but quantum entangled particles. For this simulation, the “message” was a signal containing a quantum state – a qubit in a superposition of both 1 and 0.
“The signal scrambles, it becomes mush, it becomes chaos, and then it gets put back together and appears immaculate on the other side,” says Spiropulu. “Even on this tiny system we could prop up the wormhole and observe just what we expected.” This occurs because of the quantum entanglement between the two black holes, which allows the information falling into one end of the wormhole to be preserved at the other end. That process is part of why a quantum computer is useful for this type of experiment.
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https://www.newscientist.com/article/2349118-a-quantum-computer-has-simulated-a-wormhole-for-the-first-time/