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| A wormhole is a hypothetical ‘shortcut’ between two regions of space. Credit: Shutterstock |
One of the first practical applications of the much-hyped but little-used
quantum computing technology is now within reach, thanks to a unique
approach that sidesteps the major problem of scaling up such prototypes.
The invention, by a University of Bristol physicist, who gave it the name
"counterportation," provides the first-ever practical blueprint for creating
in the lab a wormhole that verifiably bridges space, as a probe into the
inner workings of the universe.
By deploying a novel computing scheme, revealed in the journal Quantum
Science and Technology, which harnesses the basic laws of physics, a small
object can be reconstituted across space without any particles crossing.
Among other things, it provides a "smoking gun" for the existence of a
physical reality underpinning our most accurate description of the world.
Study author Hatim Salih, Honorary Research Fellow at the university's
Quantum Engineering Technology (QET) Labs, and co-founder of the start-up
DotQuantum, said, "This is a milestone we have been working towards for a
bunch of years. It provides a theoretical as well as practical framework for
exploring afresh enduring puzzles about the universe, such as the true
nature of spacetime."
The need for detectable information carriers traveling through when we
communicate has been a deeply ingrained assumption among scientists, for
instance a stream of photons crossing an optical fiber, or through the air,
allowing people to read this text. Or, indeed, the myriad neural signals
bouncing around the brain when doing so.
This holds true even for quantum teleportation, which, "Star Trek" aside,
transfers complete information about a small object, allowing it to be
reconstituted elsewhere, so it is indistinguishable in any meaningful way
from the original, which disintegrates. The latter ensures a fundamental
limit preventing perfect copying. Notably, the recent simulation of a
wormhole on Google's Sycamore processor is essentially a teleportation
experiment.
Hatim said, "Here's the sharp distinction. While counterportation achieves
the end goal of teleportation, namely disembodied transport, it remarkably
does so without any detectable information carriers traveling across."
Wormholes were popularized by the mega-hit movie "Interstellar," which
included physicist and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne among its crew. But they
first came to light about a century ago as quirky solutions to Einstein's
gravity equation, as shortcuts in the fabric of spacetime. The defining task
of a traversable wormhole, however, can be neatly abstracted as making space
traversable disjunctly; in other words, in the absence of any journey across
observable space outside the wormhole.
The pioneering research, fittingly completed to the spine-tingling
"Interstellar" score, sets out a way to carry this task out.
"If counterportation is to be realized, an entirely new type of quantum
computer has to be built: an exchange-free one, where communicating parties
exchange no particles," Hatim said.
"By contrast to large-scale quantum computers that promise remarkable
speed-ups, which no one yet knows how to build, the promise of exchange-free
quantum computers of even the smallest scale is to make seemingly impossible
tasks—such as counterportation—possible, by incorporating space in a
fundamental way alongside time."
Plans are now in progress, in collaboration with leading U.K. quantum
experts in Bristol, Oxford and York, to physically build this
otherworldly-sounding wormhole in the lab.
"The goal in the near future is to physically build such a wormwhole in the
lab, which can then be used as a testbed for rival physical theories, even
ones of quantum gravity," Hatim added.
"This work will be in the spirit of the multi-billion ventures that exist to
witness new physical phenomena, like the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European Organization for
Nuclear Research (CERN), but at a fraction of the resources. Our hope is to
ultimately provide remote access to local wormholes for physicists, physics
hobbyists, and enthusiasts to explore fundamental questions about the
universe, including the existence of higher dimensions."
Tim Spiller, professor of quantum information technologies at the University
of York and director of the Quantum Communications Hub of the UK National
Quantum Technologies Program said, "Quantum theory continues to inspire and
astound us. Hatim's latest work on counterportation provides another example
of this, with the added bonus of a pathway towards experimental
demonstration."
John Rarity, professor of optical communication systems at the University of
Bristol, said, "We experience a classical world which is actually built from
quantum objects. The proposed experiment can reveal this underlying quantum
nature showing that entirely separate quantum particles can be correlated
without ever interacting. This correlation at a distance can then be used to
transport quantum information (qbits) from one location to another without a
particle having to traverse the space, creating what could be called a
traversable wormhole."
Reference:
Hatim Salih, From counterportation to local wormholes, Quantum Science and
Technology (2022).
DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/ac8ecd