Physics

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Gil Kalai (Hebrew University / Reichman University): Why noise may doom quantum computers

Gil Kalai (Hebrew University / Reichman University): Why noise may doom quantum computers

Yuval Boger interviews mathematician Gil Kalai about his long-standing skepticism regarding scalable quantum computing. Kalai explains two main arguments behind his theory: correlated noise that may defeat quantum error correction and complexity-based limits on NISQ devices achieving quantum supremacy. They discuss experimental claims such as Google’s 2019 result, potential tests of Kalai’s conjectures, and the … Read more

At about 19 kilometres up the air pressure falls low enough that water boils at human body temperature, so an unprotected person there would feel the saliva on their tongue turn to vapour, which is why aircrew above that altitude wear sealed pressure suits rather than an oxygen mask

At about 19 kilometres up the air pressure falls low enough that water boils at human body temperature, so an unprotected person there would feel the saliva on their tongue turn to vapour, which is why aircrew above that altitude wear sealed pressure suits rather than an oxygen mask

At sea level, an oxygen mask and a pressure suit can look like two versions of the same idea. Both seem to give a pilot air. At about 19 kilometres above Earth, the difference becomes the difference between breathing and remaining physically intact. This is an account of aerospace physiology and flight protection, not guidance … Read more

French National Quantum Update: July 2026

French National Quantum Update: July 2026

Executive Summary France’s quantum ecosystem continued to expand in July 2026 through a combination of government oversight, industrial scaling, international partnerships and commercial growth, even as policymakers acknowledged intensifying global competition. The French Court of Auditors concluded that the country’s National Quantum Strategy has been well managed but warned that the international landscape has evolved … Read more

Pusan National University Researchers Have Developed a Hybrid Quantum Network with Indistinguishable Quantum Sources

Pusan National University Researchers Have Developed a Hybrid Quantum Network with Indistinguishable Quantum Sources

Insider Brief Researchers from Pusan National University and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology demonstrated photon interference between two different quantum light sources, a cesium atomic ensemble and a semiconductor quantum dot. The experiment produced indistinguishable photons from separate quantum systems and achieved Hong–Ou–Mandel interference with a visibility of 0.65 ± 0.14 without spectral … Read more

Radio Array Detects Polarized Light From a GRB

Radio Array Detects Polarized Light From a GRB

On March 10, 2026, the Fermi telescope gamma-ray burst team reported the detection of a long-duration gamma-ray burst that occurred when a star exploded inside a dense, highly magnetized cloud of hydrogen gas. That HII region is a bubble of ionized hydrogen created by winds from a massive young star. Astronomers immediately turned as many … Read more

IBM and Algorithmiq Develop Framework for Verifying Quantum Computations Beyond Classical Simulation

IBM and Algorithmiq Develop Framework for Verifying Quantum Computations Beyond Classical Simulation

Insider Brief IBM and Algorithmiq have demonstrated a quantum computation framework for studying heterogeneous quantum materials while validating results when classical verification methods are unavailable. The team used an IBM Quantum Heron processor to simulate a programmable quantum material and developed a validation approach based on noise modeling, error mitigation, and cross-platform testing. Algorithmiq released … Read more

India’s newest private physics institute hinges success on ‘less is more’

India’s newest private physics institute hinges success on ‘less is more’

India does not lack respected homes for theoretical physics research. Asked why it needs another, Jainendra K. Jain — founding director of the Lodha Theoretical Physics Institute (LTPI) — answers by describing what the place will not do. It will be “smaller” than the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) , narrower in scope than … Read more