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Revolutionary Quantum Simulator Breaks Records, Paving the Way for New Materials Discovery

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Quantum Simulation of Qubits

Artist Representation of Qubits in the Quantum Twins Simulator

Silicon Quantum Computing

A groundbreaking large-scale quantum simulator has the potential to unveil the mechanisms of exotic quantum materials and pave the way for their optimization in future applications.

Quantum computers are set to leverage unique quantum phenomena to perform calculations that are currently unmanageable for even the most advanced classical computers. Similarly, quantum simulators can aid researchers in accurately modeling materials and molecules that remain poorly understood.

This holds particularly true for superconductors, which conduct electricity with remarkable efficiency. The efficiency of superconductors arises from quantum effects, making it feasible to implement their properties directly in quantum simulators, unlike classical devices that necessitate extensive mathematical transformations.

Michelle Simmons and her team at Australia’s Silicon Quantum Computing have successfully developed the largest quantum simulator to date, known as Quantum Twin. “The scale and precision we’ve achieved with these simulators empower us to address intriguing challenges,” Simmons states. “We are pioneering new materials by crafting them atom by atom.”

The researchers designed multiple simulators by embedding phosphorus atoms into silicon chips. Each atom acts as a quantum bit (qubit), the fundamental component of quantum computers and simulators. The team meticulously configured the qubits into grids that replicate the atomic arrangement found in real materials. Each iteration of the Quantum Twin consisted of a square grid containing 15,000 qubits, surpassing any previous quantum simulator in scale. While similar configurations have been built using thousands of cryogenic atoms in the past, Quantum Twin breaks new ground.

By integrating electronic components into each chip via a precise patterning process, the researchers managed to control the electron properties within the chips. This emulates the electron behavior within simulated materials, crucial for understanding electrical flow. Researchers can manipulate the ease of adding an electron at specific grid points or the “hop” between two points.

Simmons noted that while conventional computers struggle with large two-dimensional simulations and complex electron property combinations, the Quantum Twin simulator shows significant potential for these scenarios. The team tested the chip by simulating the transition between conductive and insulating states—a critical mathematical model explaining how impurities in materials influence electrical conductivity. Additionally, they recorded the material’s “Hall coefficient” across different temperatures to assess its behavior in magnetic fields.

With its impressive size and variable control, the Quantum Twins simulator is poised to tackle unconventional superconductors. While conventional superconductors function well at low temperatures or under extreme pressure, some can operate under milder conditions. Achieving a deeper understanding of superconductors at ambient temperature and pressure is essential—knowledge that quantum simulators are expected to furnish in the future.

Moreover, Quantum Twins can also facilitate the investigation of interfaces between various metals and polyacetylene-like molecules, holding promise for advancements in drug development and artificial photosynthesis technologies, Simmons highlights.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Asteroid Breaks Records: Discovery via Pre-Survey Data from Vera Rubin Observatory

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Astronomers have identified a fascinating asteroid named 2025 MN45 using early data from the Legacy Space-Time Survey (LSST) Camera, the largest digital camera in the world, at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Artist’s impression of asteroid 2025 MN45. Image credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA / P. Marenfeld.

Asteroids orbiting the sun rotate at varying speeds, providing critical insights into their formation conditions billions of years ago, as well as their internal structure and evolutionary history.

Fast-spinning asteroids may have been propelled by prior collisions with other space rocks, suggesting they could be remnants of larger parent bodies.

To withstand such rapid spinning, these asteroids must possess enough internal strength to prevent fragmentation, a process where an object breaks apart due to its rotation speed.

Most asteroids consist of aggregates of debris, with their construction limiting how swiftly they can spin without disintegrating based on their density.

In the main asteroid belt, the threshold for stable fast rotation is approximately 2.2 hours. Asteroids exceeding this rotation period must be exceptionally strong to remain intact.

The faster an asteroid spins and the larger it is, the more durable its material must be.

A recent study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters reveals important insights into asteroid composition and evolution, showcasing how the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is redefining our understanding of solar system discoveries.

This research presents data on 76 asteroids with verified rotation rates.

It includes 16 ultra-fast rotators with periods ranging from approximately 13 minutes to 2.2 hours, along with three extreme rotators completing a full rotation in under 5 minutes.

All 19 newly identified high-rotation objects exceed the length of an American football field (around 90 meters).

Notably, the fastest-spinning known main-belt asteroid, 2025 MN45, has a diameter of 710 meters and completes a rotation every 1.88 minutes.

This combination establishes it as the fastest rotating asteroid discovered, surpassing 500 meters in diameter.

“Clearly, this asteroid must be composed of exceptionally strong material to maintain its structure at such high rotation speeds,” commented Dr. Sarah Greenstreet, an astronomer at NSF’s NOIRLab and the University of Washington.

“Our calculations suggest it requires cohesive forces comparable to solid rock.”

“This is intriguing because most asteroids are believed to be ‘rubble heap’ structures, composed of numerous small rocks and debris that coalesced through gravitational forces during solar system formation and collisions.”

“Discoveries like this incredibly fast-rotating asteroid result from the observatory’s unmatched ability to deliver high-resolution time-domain astronomical data, thus expanding the limits of what we can observe,” stated Regina Lameika, DOE associate director for high-energy physics.

In addition to 2025 MN45, other significant asteroids researched by the team include 2025 MJ71 (rotation period of 1.9 minutes), 2025 MK41 (rotation period of 3.8 minutes), 2025 MV71 (rotation period of 13 minutes), and 2025 MG56 (rotation period of 16 minutes).

All five of these ultra-fast rotators are several hundred meters in diameter, categorizing them as the fastest-rotating subkilometer asteroids known to date, including several near-Earth objects.

“As this study illustrates, even during its initial commissioning stages, Rubin allows us to investigate populations of relatively small, very fast-rotating main-belt asteroids that were previously unattainable,” Dr. Greenstreet concluded.

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Sarah Greenstreet et al. 2026. Light curve, rotation period, and color of the first asteroid discovered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. APJL 996, L33; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae2a30

Source: www.sci.news

Diamond storage breaks records by holding data for millions of years

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Diamond can store data stably for a long time

University of Science and Technology of China

The famous marketing slogan that diamonds are forever may be just a slight exaggeration for diamond-based systems that can store information for millions of years. Now, researchers have developed a system with a record-breaking storage density of 1.85 terabytes per cubic centimeter.

Previous technology used laser pulses to encode data onto diamond, but due to its higher storage density, a diamond optical disc with the same capacity as a standard Blu-ray could hold approximately 100 terabytes of data (Blu-ray). (equivalent to approximately 2,000 rays). It lasts much longer than the typical Blu-ray lifespan of just a few decades.

“Once the internal data storage structure is stabilized using our technology, diamond can achieve an extraordinary lifetime of millions of years of data retention at room temperature without requiring maintenance,” he says. Wang Ya at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.

Wang and his colleagues conducted their research using tiny pieces of diamond, just a few millimeters long, but say future versions of the system could use rapidly spinning diamond discs. Their method used ultrafast laser pulses to knock some of diamond’s carbon atoms out of place, leaving single-atom-sized empty spaces, each exhibiting a stable brightness level.

By controlling the laser’s energy, the researchers were able to create multiple empty spaces at specific locations within the diamond, and the density of those spaces influenced the overall brightness of each site. . “The number of free spaces can be determined by looking at the brightness, so the stored information can be read,” Wang says.

The team then saved the images, including a colorful painting by artist Henri Matisse. cat with red fish And a series of photographs taken by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878, showing a rider on a galloping horse, maps the brightness of each pixel to the brightness level of a specific region within a diamond. The system stored this data with over 99% accuracy and completeness.

This preservation method is not yet commercially viable because it requires expensive lasers, high-speed fluorescence imaging cameras, and other devices, Wang said. But he and his colleagues hope that the diamond-based system can eventually be miniaturized to fit in a space the size of a microwave oven.

“In the short term, government agencies, research institutes, and libraries with a focus on archives and data preservation may be eager to adopt this technology,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

January Breaks Record as Hottest Month; Global Temperature Surpasses 1.7°C Rise

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Devastating wildfires break out in Chile following January's heat wave and drought

Javier Torres/AFP via Getty Images

Temperature records continue. According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Agency, January this year was the hottest on record, with temperatures 1.7 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

This means there were 12 months in which the Earth's average surface temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the average between 1850 and 1900, the pre-industrial reference point.

“2024 begins with another record month,” Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a statement. She said: “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures from rising.”

At the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, countries pledged to work to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Climate scientists will not consider this limit to have been breached until the Earth's long-term average temperature exceeds this level for many years.

The long-term average is now 1.25°C warmer than before the industrial revolution. Richard Betts At the Met Office, the UK's National Weather Service. However, carbon emissions are still increasing, and by this standard it seems certain that the 1.5°C limit will be breached soon, perhaps around 2030.

Long-term global averages are rising in line with climate model predictions. However, the extremely rapid warming over the past year or two has far exceeded expectations. Among other records, in 2023 he recorded for the first time a day warmer by 2 degrees Celsius than the average from 1850 to 1900.

It remains unclear why there has been such rapid warming over the past year or so, and how long it will continue. Factors that may have accelerated warming include the 2022 eruption of Tonga Volcano, which pumped large amounts of water into the stratosphere, and reduced aerosol pollution from ships.

For practical reasons, climate scientists have defined pre-industrial temperatures as the average from 1850 to 1900, since there are few records of temperatures before then. However, using this as a baseline could mean that the level of warming due to fossil fuel emissions is being underestimated.

One 2017 survey This indicates an error of approximately 0.2°C. Another announcement this week put the difference at 0.5°C, based on analysis of sponges, meaning we have already breached the 1.5°C limit, but other climate scientists They are not satisfied with this.

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Source: www.newscientist.com