Last year, the giant Google unveiled his project Bristlecone chip for quantum computer combining 72 qubits which was to bring him to quantum supremacy. The latter corresponds to the creation of a quantum system that can no longer be simulated by traditional computing to solve particular problems.
The quantum supremacy must be obtainable from quantum computers of approximately 50 qubits (which some companies already have) but only if the error rate is low enough to obtain valid results.
It is on this point that the work of the researchers is focused … and that Google may have resolved by stating that its experimental chip allowed a specific calculation in 3 minutes and 20 seconds when it would have taken 10,000 years to Summit, the most powerful supercomputer in the world, to do the same.
"To our knowledge, this experiment represents the first calculation that can only be performed with a quantum processor"say the authors of the article which appeared briefly on the NASA portal before being withdrawn, reports the Financial times.
Quantum computers will not replace traditional computers for a long time, but they can be extremely effective in certain types of complex calculations which are of interest to research as well as industry or the military.
The quantum supremacy stage is a starting point (and it remains to be seen if Google's claims are confirmed) but it constitutes an important inflection point since it opens the way to treatments impossible to perform in traditional computing. and / or which would take far too long to be usable.
The publication of this article occurs while IBM announced the commissioning of a quantum system of 53 qubits for researchers and industry, as part of a group of remotely accessible quantum computers to conduct experiments.
