Computer Sciences
Recent advancements in quantum computing have driven the scientific community's quest to solve a certain class of complex problems for which quantum computers would be better suited than traditional supercomputers. To improve ...
Aug 26, 2020
0
105
Electronics & Semiconductors
To further advance communication systems, increasing both their speed and efficiency, electronics engineers will need to create new and highly performing components, including electromechanical resonators. Electromechanical ...
Computer Sciences
Researchers used Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Quantum Computing User Program (QCUP) to achieve major improvements in quantum fidelity, a potential step toward more accurate, reliable quantum networks and supercomputers.
Jan 17, 2022
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92
Internet
A new form of security identification could soon see the light of day and help us protect our data from hackers and cybercriminals. Quantum mathematicians at the University of Copenhagen have solved a mathematical riddle ...
Apr 28, 2022
1
456
Electronics & Semiconductors
Silicon has proved to be a highly valuable and reliable material for fabricating a variety of technologies, including quantum devices. In recent years, researchers have also been investigating the possible advantages of using ...
Computer Sciences
Two UCLA computer scientists have shown that existing compilers, which tell quantum computers how to use their circuits to execute quantum programs, inhibit the computers' ability to achieve optimal performance. Specifically, ...
Aug 14, 2020
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1386
Engineering
Quantum processors are computing systems that process information and perform computations by exploiting quantum mechanical phenomena. These systems could significantly outperform conventional processors on certain tasks, ...
Telecom
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, present a unique optical amplifier that is expected to revolutionize both space and fiber communication. The new amplifier offers high performance, is compact enough ...
Sep 21, 2021
0
182
Engineering
Engineers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a method for reading several qubits—the smallest unit of quantum data—at the same time. Their method paves the way to a new generation of even ...
Jan 6, 2022
0
443
Engineering
In recent years, engineers have been trying to devise new computers and devices that could help to solve challenging real-world problems faster and more efficiently. Some of the most promising among these are Ising machines ...
In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is an indivisible entity of a quantity that has the same units as the Planck constant and is related to both energy and momentum of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons. The word comes from the Latin "quantus", for "how much." Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized", referred to as "quantization". This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete numerical values, rather than any value, at least within a range. There is a related term of quantum number.
A photon is often referred to as a "light quantum". The energy of an electron bound to an atom (at rest) is said to be quantized, which results in the stability of atoms, and of matter in general. But these terms can be a little misleading, because what is quantized is this Planck's constant quantity whose units can be viewed as either energy multiplied by time or momentum multiplied by distance.
Usually referred to as quantum "mechanics", it is regarded by virtually every professional physicist as the most fundamental framework we have for understanding and describing nature at the infinitesimal level, for the very practical reason that it works. It is "in the nature of things", not a more or less arbitrary human preference.
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