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Do you believe in the multiverse? Because the folks over at Google seem to think such a thing exists, based on how they describe their new quantum computer chip called Willow.
In an article written by Hartmut Neven, the Founder and Lead of Google Quantum AI, discusses how their new Willow quantum computer chip is faster than the world’s most powerful super computers. Google also hints that their quantum chip uses “many parallel universes” to perform tasks so quickly. Seriously.
As Neven explains, the Willow quantum chip was able to cut the rate of quantum error correction in half. It also is “one of the first compelling examples of real-time error correction on a superconducting quantum system.”
So how fast is the Willow quantum chip?
“It performed a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 1025 or 10 septillion years,” Hartmut Neven wrote in his article. “If you want to write it out, it’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.
“This mind-boggling number exceeds known timescales in physics and vastly exceeds the age of the universe. It lends credence to the notion that quantum computation occurs in many parallel universes, in line with the idea that we live in a multiverse, a prediction first made by David Deutsch.”
So what’s next?
“The next challenge for the field is to demonstrate a first ‘useful, beyond-classical’ computation on today’s quantum chips that is relevant to a real-world application,” Neven wrote. “We’re optimistic that the Willow generation of chips can help us achieve this goal.
“So far, there have been two separate types of experiments. On the one hand, we’ve run the RCS benchmark, which measures performance against classical computers but has no known real-world applications. On the other hand, we’ve done scientifically interesting simulations of quantum systems, which have led to new scientific discoveries but are still within the reach of classical computers.
“Our goal is to do both at the same time — to step into the realm of algorithms that are beyond the reach of classical computers and that are useful for real-world, commercially relevant problems.”
More details about his research appears in a paper published in the journal Nature.