2024-07-11 09:48:27
(ANSA) – ROME, JULY 11 – A new important step forward for quantum computing comes thanks to a study also signed by the Nobel Prize winner and vice president of the Accademia dei Lincei Giorgio Parisi and published in the journal Nature: the research is from the Institute for Applications of Calculus of the National Research Council, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Sapienza University of Rome and offers fundamental confirmation of the possibility of using the ‘quantum annealing’ method, which would allow solving optimization problems with greater effectiveness than traditional techniques.
Quantum annealing is one of the most promising techniques in the field of quantum computing: it is an optimization method in which qubits, the quantum analogs of bits, are positioned to reach a state of minimum absolute energy, so that they can then be used to solve very complex problems. A well-known example is the traveling salesman problem, which consists of finding the shortest route that allows you to pass through each city only once before returning to the starting point.
To answer these questions, the research group formed by Massimo Bernaschi of the Iac-Cnr, Isidoro González-Adalid Pemartín and Víctor Martín-Mayor of the Spanish university and Giorgi Parisi of Sapienza, carried out approximately 7 million hours of computing in two of the largest facilities on the European continent: MeluXina in Luxembourg and Leonardo at Cineca in Italy.
“The results obtained prove that a symmetry mechanism protects quantum annealing, allowing an effective application of this particular technique”, says Parisi.
“In fact, under suitable symmetry conditions, there are no obstacles in principle in obtaining solutions to an optimization problem through a process based on slow and gradual modifications of the state of the system.” (ANSA).
2024-07-11 09:48:27