Microsoft Says Its Weird New Particle Could Improve Quantum Computers (newscientist.com) 32
An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: Microsoft researchers have made a controversial claim that they have seen evidence of an elusive particle that could solve some of the biggest headaches in quantum computing, but some experts are questioning the discovery. Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, but current iterations can be prone to error. "What the field needs is a new kind of qubit," says Chetan Nayak at Microsoft Quantum. He and his colleagues say they have taken a significant step towards building qubits from quasiparticles, which are not true particles but collective vibrations that can emerge when particles like electrons act together. The quasiparticles in question are called Majorana zero modes, which act as their own antiparticle and have a charge and energy that equate to zero. That makes them resilient to disturbances -- so they could make unprecedentedly reliable qubits -- but also makes them notoriously hard to find. The Microsoft researchers say devices they built exhibited behaviors consistent with Majorana zero modes. The main components of each device were an extremely thin semiconducting wire and a piece of superconducting aluminum.
This isn't the first time Microsoft has claimed to have found Majorana zero modes. A 2018 paper by a different group of researchers at the company was retracted from the scientific journal Nature in 2021 after it didn't hold up to scrutiny. At the time, Sergey Frolovat the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and his colleagues found that imperfections in the semiconductor wire could produce quantum effects easily mistaken for Majorana zero modes. "To see Majorana zero modes, the wire must be like a very long, very even road with no bumps. If there is any disorder in the wire, electrons can get stuck on these imperfections and assume quantum states that mimic Majorana zero modes," says Frolov. In the new experiment, the team used a more complex test called the topological gap protocol. To pass the test, a device must simultaneously show signatures of Majorana zero modes at each end of the wire, and also show that the electrons are in an energy range where a special kind of superconductivity emerges. "Rather than look for one particular simple signature of Majorana zero modes, we looked for a mosaic of signatures," says Nayak. The researchers tested this protocol on hundreds of computer simulations of devices, which considered any impurities in the wires, before using it on experimental data. Nayak says they calculated that for any device that passed the topological gap protocol, the probability of there not actually being a Majorana zero mode within it was less than 8 per cent.
Not all researchers in the field are convinced.Henry Leggat the University of Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues recently published a set of calculations showing that this test can be fooled by impurities in the wires. "The topological gap protocol as currently implemented is certainly not loophole free," he says. Frolov says that a few details imply that what seem to be Majorana zero modes would be revealed as an effect of disorder if the experiment were repeated with even more sensitive measurements. These include small differences between measurements for the left and right edges of the wire, as well as the measurements of electrons' energies -- the same energies can be indicative of emerging Majorana zero modes or of dirt trapping the electrons. Anton Akhmerovat the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands says that for him, the new experiment is not viable evidence that Majorana zero modes have been detected until another team of researchers reproduces it. But this may be difficult as some details of how Microsoft's devices were manufactured have not been published on account of being trade secrets, he says.
This isn't the first time Microsoft has claimed to have found Majorana zero modes. A 2018 paper by a different group of researchers at the company was retracted from the scientific journal Nature in 2021 after it didn't hold up to scrutiny. At the time, Sergey Frolovat the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and his colleagues found that imperfections in the semiconductor wire could produce quantum effects easily mistaken for Majorana zero modes. "To see Majorana zero modes, the wire must be like a very long, very even road with no bumps. If there is any disorder in the wire, electrons can get stuck on these imperfections and assume quantum states that mimic Majorana zero modes," says Frolov. In the new experiment, the team used a more complex test called the topological gap protocol. To pass the test, a device must simultaneously show signatures of Majorana zero modes at each end of the wire, and also show that the electrons are in an energy range where a special kind of superconductivity emerges. "Rather than look for one particular simple signature of Majorana zero modes, we looked for a mosaic of signatures," says Nayak. The researchers tested this protocol on hundreds of computer simulations of devices, which considered any impurities in the wires, before using it on experimental data. Nayak says they calculated that for any device that passed the topological gap protocol, the probability of there not actually being a Majorana zero mode within it was less than 8 per cent.
Not all researchers in the field are convinced.Henry Leggat the University of Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues recently published a set of calculations showing that this test can be fooled by impurities in the wires. "The topological gap protocol as currently implemented is certainly not loophole free," he says. Frolov says that a few details imply that what seem to be Majorana zero modes would be revealed as an effect of disorder if the experiment were repeated with even more sensitive measurements. These include small differences between measurements for the left and right edges of the wire, as well as the measurements of electrons' energies -- the same energies can be indicative of emerging Majorana zero modes or of dirt trapping the electrons. Anton Akhmerovat the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands says that for him, the new experiment is not viable evidence that Majorana zero modes have been detected until another team of researchers reproduces it. But this may be difficult as some details of how Microsoft's devices were manufactured have not been published on account of being trade secrets, he says.
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Don't Do This To Your Entangled States!
zero modes (Score:2)
zero Majorana modes
a mosaic of FTFY
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What if there was a particle like in Three Body Problem, only instead of being adversarial it was attempting to help bootstrap certain tech?
Or if adversarial, the aliens' way of hobbling human technology by keeping so many people on Windows?
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the aliens' way of hobbling human technology by keeping so many people on Windows?
Oh man, that is an even better take! And explains a lot.
Real Progress (Score:2, Insightful)
How about fixing Windows so I don't need to watch a progress bar for 27 seconds every time I change directories?
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That is impossible now that MS has discovered the Unimproviun particle. It tends to collect around MS software factories fuzzing up the code...something like a wrackspurt.
Re: Real Progress (Score:2)
The UI is dreamed up in real time by an AI, which aims to optimise the windows experience. Thank you for providing positive feedback.
Microsoft discovers new element, ADMINISTRATIUM (Score:5, Funny)
The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by investigators at a major US research university. The element, tentatively, named "ADMINISTRATIUM", appears to be very closely related to BUREAUCRATIUM - a known deadly poison.. " "ADMINISTRATIUM" has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of O.
Upon initial inspection, however, it does have:
- one neutron,
- 125 assistant neutrons,
- 75 vice neutrons and
which together gives it an atomic mass of 312.
PARTICLE STRUCTURE
* These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called MORONS.
* It is also surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called PEONS.
PROPERTIES
Since it has no electrons, administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with.
According to the discoverers, a minute amount of administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second.
Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately THREE YEARS, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually INCREASES after each reorganization.
OCCURRENCES
Research at other laboratories indicates that administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations, and universities. It can usually be found in the newest, best appointed, and best maintained buildings.
Scientists point out that administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reaction where it is allowed to accumulate.
Attempts are being made to determine how administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.
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Bsodion
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We detected this thing that will never have any er (Score:2)
becuase unobtanium (Score:2)
Marketing science with irrelevant applications (Score:3)
A different path (Score:2)
Think positive and affirming thoughts, Microsoft, and soon the particle you desire will be yours.
A bit wierded out (Score:3)
Is anyone else a bit weirded out by the prospect of Microsoft doing scientific research?
There's no reason they shouldn't of course, and I'm sure they can recruit decent scientists to do the work, but something just doesn't sit right with me. Their general approach to bugs sort of fits with their previous paper, and I'm sure it won't be the last. It could be because I don't trust them, and I'm always wary of their motives. I'm not sure how you can embrace, extend and extinguish quantum research, but if there is a way, I have a funny feeling they'll find it. I guess the only saving grace is that being quantum, they'll both extinguish and promote it at the same time, so there's that, I suppose.
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Microsoft Research has been around since 1991 [microsoft.com].
The perception is "weird" because it is a juxtaposition of Microsoft's public perception: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
We've gone from a company that once called "Linux is a Cancer" to more then 50% of Azure are running Linux. [microsoft.com]
Microsoft has a LONG history of "hedging their bets". i.e. At one time Microsoft sold their brand of Unix called Xenix [wikipedia.org] ! "MS-DOS was for single-user, Xenix for multi-user being a multi-tasking OS." We all know how that worked out.
It is on
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I can well imagine them doing IT/computer/development type work - that's absolutely understandable. I'm also sure they have some people playing with whatever quantum hardware they have trying to make it do cool stuff - again, completely understandable.
It's not a big reach for them to be thinking about how to make quantum hardware work better either - but just as if they started making their own line of CPUs, I find it to be a bit weird somehow.
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Not too many people remember that Microsoft used to sell a 16 KB Language Card (RAMCard) and a Z80 Peripheral Card (SoftCard) for the Apple ][ [pcmag.com] ! They have been making hardware a long time before they got serious with the XBox. (Microsoft Natural Keyboard, Microsoft "Dove" Mouse, etc.)
Nvidia makes their own CPUs [nvidia.com].(Grace).
Amazon makes their own CPUs [amazon.com] (Graviton).
Even Apple is making their own SoC CPUs now.
At some point of the software optimization process you realize that you need to understand and optimize the
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I have a suspicion their angle and motivation is around AI chips, they have seen how Apple has successfully cut out the incumbents when it comes to manufacturing chips and want to manufacture some of that sweet royalty free silicon for themselves.
New Microsoft particle? (Score:4, Funny)
A new particle from Microsoft?
May I be the first to suggest it should be named a spyon?
Scruffy Patriot Discovers This One Weird Paticle! (Score:2)
The wrong kind of Indians (Score:3)
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but admiration for Indians like Bose and Ramanujan and Chandrasekhar. But those aren't the sort of Indians that work for Microsoft. Instead they have the diametric opposite... adequately educated technicians without even the pretense of a soul. They worship at the altar of money, make yes-men look pigheadedly obstinant, and above all else, NEED to fulfill the expectations of upper management. They are a collective of Ned Flanders types, who seek to live their lives perfectly according to The Bible, even the parts of it that contradict all the other parts, and in this case The Bible is the Yahweh Microsoft's Employee handbook. Under those circumstances, they will legitimately square the circle and jump the shark until they discover The Holy Grail that management wants. A retraction in Nature is just a bug in the beta...
not to be outdone (Score:2)
What I am hearing is you could crinkle up some tin (Score:1)
What I am hearing is you could crinkle up some tin foil (perhaps from an old hat) with quantum precision and measure the imperfections which may then be mistaken for Majorana zero modes.
particle + anti-particle = 0 energy? (Score:2)