Physicists have demonstrated that the usual method for the production of particles on a Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can create an effect that is literally called “magic”. This term was first proposed back in 1972, but today it receives a new value in the context of quantum computers.
The Big Adrone Collider, which has been known since 2012 for the discovery of the Higgs Boson, continues to be the most important tool for the study of fundamental particles and laws of nature. This time, a team of physicists, twin brothers Chris and Martin White from the University of London, Queen Mary, and the University of Adelaide, presented work in the journal Physical Review D, dedicated to the phenomenon of “magic” in top quarks.
Top quarks are the most heavy particles of the standard model, and their properties are of particular importance for creating powerful quantum computers. As Chris White explains, “magic” measures the complexity of the quantum state, which makes it almost impossible for modeling on classic computers. The higher the indicator of magic, the greater the need to use quantum computers to describe the behavior of such systems.
In their work, scientists studied the properties of top quarks produced at the LHC, namely their speed and direction, which are recorded by Atlas and CMS detectors. The study is aimed at answering the fundamental question: “Does nature create magical tops, and if not, why?”
Martin White notes that understanding the magical properties of quantum systems opens up new horizons in the development of quantum computers. These machines use qubits, which, unlike classic bits, can take values 0 and 1 at the same time. This property allows quantum computers to solve problems inaccessible to their classic analogues.
In recent months, quantum technologies have made impressive achievements. In the summer, Quantinuum introduced a computer that surpassed the 2019 Google result in “quantum superiority” 100 times. And in December, Google announced the creation of a new quantum chip, capable of performing calculations that would occupy dozens of septillions of years from the supercomputer.
LHC work continues: after a three-year break