Exploring the Laws of the Universe
A scientist from the University of Bristol found a way to use the exciting and often underused technology called quantum computing. This invention, nicknamed ‘counterportation’, helps turn prototypes into a type of wormhole in a laboratory. This wormhole can help us explore how the universe works.
Scientists have found a way to make things appear in different places without actually moving any particles. To do this, they’re using a special computer program based on the laws of physics. This also helps prove that our understanding of reality is true.
Hatim Salih, the author of this study who is also a co-founder of the start-up DotQuantum, said: “We have been working hard to reach this milestone. It provides both a way for us to understand and solve big questions about the universe like what space and time really are.”
Whenever we communicate, scientists assume that information is travelling from one place to another. This could look like a beam of light in an optical fibre or it could be the nerve signals that our brains use when we read words.
Quantum teleportation actually means taking all the complete info about a tiny thing, copying it over somewhere else and then reconstructing it there. The original one gets destroyed in this process so we can’t have an exact copy of it. Recently, Google’s Sycamore processor successfully simulated a wormhole which is basically like a teleportation experiment.
Hatim explained that there is a difference between teleportation and counterportation: with teleportation something travels from one place to another, but counterportation achieves the same goal of sending something from one spot to another without anything actually crossing over.
Have you ever watched the blockbuster movie Interstellar? It starred Nobel Prize winner, Kip Thorne. He and other scientists talked about wormholes in it. Wormholes were first discovered around 100 years ago and they are a special part of spacetime where we can travel without having to move through space like a normal trip. Basically, with a wormhole, we do not have to take a long journey or use any type of observable transportation outside the wormhole.
To complete an amazing new task set to a cool background music of Interstellar, scientists had to create something totally new – an exchange-free quantum computer. This means that the communicating parties don’t need to swap any particles either. According to Hatim, this is what counterportation requires!
We know how to build big quantum computers that run really quickly, but exchange-free quantum computers of any size have a different purpose. They can do things that are thought “impossible” by using space alongside time.
Scientists in the UK are working on building a “wormhole” in the laboratory. This wormhole will be used to test and compare different physics theories, even quantum gravity. So, this is like a first step toward better understanding of these various laws of nature!
We want to do something really cool and science-y like with a lot less money than LIGO or CERN. Our goal is to give people (like physicists, hobbyists, or just anyone interested) access to something called wormholes. That way they can explore amazing questions about things like extra dimensions in the universe!
Tim Spiller, a science professor at the University of York, said that people are still impressed by quantum theory and that Hatim’s work on counterportation presents an opportunity to put it into practice.
John Rarity, a professor at the University of Bristol, said: “We live in a world made up of really small objects called quantum particles. There’s an experiment that can show how these particles connect to each other without even touching. It’s like making a tunnel or ‘wormhole’ that lets us send information from one place to another without something traveling through it.”
A research paper called “From counterportation to local wormholes” was written by Hatim Salih on March 2nd, 2023 in the Quantum Science and Technology Magazine. It was funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
