The world has other laws at the micro level

The new laws of the world may seem to be a subject aimed at people interested in philosophy, rather than scientists. Indeed, it’s difficult for the most deterministic minds to understand, but the world doesn’t work the way we have been told it does. Reality isn’t as real as we perceive it to be; at least at the microscopic level.

Since the advent of quantum physics, or mechanics, science has had access to new laws of physics that govern the small world, and these are concise. Never before have we been able to make predictions about our universe with such exhaustive knowledge as we have today.

What happens when you’re a Socrates fan and a quantum physics researcher: all I know is that I don’t know anything, quantum version

"I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics". When Richard Feynman received the Nobel Prize for his studies on quantum physics, he issued this bold statement.

With the appearance of quantum physics certain concepts begin to emerge having to do with the unpredictability of things, and of the world we know, which Newtonian determinism didn’t address. This gives rise to a new paradigm and a new way of understanding reality, and, therefore, of working.

Beyond the theoretical: supermarket doors and quantum physics

When you hear about quantum physics and computing, it seems that the sphere is reserved for a few brilliant minds, probably descendants of Mr Schrödinger. Nothing could be further from the truth. This new physics has made possible some of the inventions we use every day: lasers, fibre optics and even the sensors in automatic doors.

Every time we enter a supermarket, and the door opens automatically with a motion sensor, it’s based on knowledge drawn from quantum physics.

Quantum physics deals with several complex principles, but first let’s start with the basics:

• Quantum superposition may be familiar to you, from the example of Schrödinger’s cat, which has animal rights activists so upset. This principle tells us that, in reality, a fundamental element (any indivisible microscopic unit, which behaves like a solid block at the microscopic level, such as atoms or molecules) can be in two or more states and places at the same time. As with the cat, until we open the box we won’t know whether it’s alive or dead.

  The first thing this principle upends is that the bit, the smallest unit of information, which makes up the language understood by the computer, no longer has to be 0 or 1 (like a switch: on or off). Rather, at the subatomic level the qubit (the quantum bit) can act as a 0 and 1 at the same time, or lie on a spectrum between the two.

• Quantum entanglement: this principle tells us about the existence of particles that are connected to each other. Even Einstein himself was disturbed by the idea of this quantum concept occurring: two particles forming a single whole that has the same properties. It turns out that when one of these particles is modified, the other one immediately learns of the perturbation of its “twin particle” at a speed faster than the speed of light. It would be like in Dragon Ball when Goku and Vegeta merge into one being, but they also separate from each other, and each one knows what’s happening to the other, instantly.

• Wave-particle duality: at first it was thought that waves were one thing and particles were another. Thanks to Louis de Broglie, it was discovered that light was both a wave and a particle, and that sometimes it behaved like a wave, and sometimes like a particle. To imagine an example closer to home: it’s as if we could be in the living room and the kitchen at the same time; we will be in one place or the other, but since we are in the microscopic world, and we are also a wave, we will behave as if we were in both. That’s why quantum physics is probabilistic, because out of 100 times you enter my house, sometimes I’ll be in the living room, and the rest of the time I’ll be in the kitchen.

Quantum computing, a new paradigm in computing

In the 21st century we’ve not only managed to understand these new laws, but we’ve started to take advantage of all this knowledge too.

The European Union has established four main cornerstones of progress to achieve what has been called the “Second Quantum Revolution”. These include quantum computing, i.e. computers that work directly with the laws of quantum physics.

Every day we experience the benefits of classical computing. However, we face some particular challenges that today’s computers are unable to solve. Much more computing power is needed, which is only possible if we harness the laws of quantum physics. This calls for the development of universal quantum computers, which exploit the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with the number of qubits (quantum bits).

So, whats does a quantum computer do? And what aspects will it improve?

Quantum computers do more than perform calculations more efficiently and faster. They also have the potential to accelerate the development of Artificial Intelligence. This will help us, for example, improve the software of autonomous vehicles.

These computers operate using the same properties as the molecules they are trying to simulate, so they will be able to handle more complex chemical reactions, which will make it possible to produce new and more efficient materials, and improve existing products, from electric car batteries to solar panels. In the health sciences, they will further the development of better and cheaper medicines.

In short, they can be used in any field where there is a complex and uncertain system that needs to be simulated. This can be extrapolated to almost any sector, such as biology, astrophysics, automobiles, chemistry, medicine, drug research, weather forecasting, financial market research, and much more.

Thus far quantum computers aren’t very powerful, nor has there been much success in making them reliable, as they have very high error rates. However, companies and governments are still banking on them, and we are already immersed in the Second Quantum Revolution, which will be similar to the arrival of the Internet.