Google's 'quantum supremacy' claim challenged as researchers find flaws

Google has claimed to achieve quantum supremacy with a quantum computer that can solve a problem faster than any classical computer. However, new research challenges this claim and finds flaws in Google's approach.

The paper, published in Nature Communications, describes how researchers were able to demonstrate the limitations of quantum computing by using a technique called 'variational quantum eigensolver' (VQE).

The VQE method is used to approximate the ground state of a molecule, which can be useful for drug discovery and materials science. However, it relies on the ability of a quantum computer to perform a large number of calculations quickly.

The researchers found that while Google's quantum computer was able to solve the problem faster than any classical computer, it only achieved about 90% accuracy. This means that there were still errors in the results.

This challenges Google's claim to quantum supremacy, which relies on the ability of a quantum computer to solve problems that are intractable for classical computers. If the accuracy of the results is not high enough, it means that the problem is not truly 'quantum' and cannot be solved using quantum computing.

The researchers also found that the accuracy of the VQE method depends on the complexity of the problem being solved. As the complexity increases, the accuracy decreases.

This highlights the challenges facing quantum computing research, which is still in its early stages and faces many technical hurdles. While there has been significant progress in recent years, there is still much work to be done before we can truly harness the power of quantum computers.