📚 Google Performs First Quantum Simulation of a Chemical Reaction

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NewScientist: Google researchers have used a quantum computer to simulate a chemical reaction for the first time. The reaction is a simple one, but this marks a step towards finding a practical use for quantum computers. A team at Google has used the company's Sycamore device to perform the first accurate quantum simulation of a chemical reaction. Sycamore achieved quantum supremacy in 2019 when it carried out a calculation that would be impossible for a classical computer to perform in a practical amount of time. For the computer's latest feat, the researchers simulated a diazene molecule, which consists of two nitrogen atoms and two hydrogen atoms, undergoing a reaction in which the hydrogen atoms move into different configurations around the nitrogens. The quantum simulation agreed with simulations the researchers performed on classical computers to check their work. The researchers published their findings in the journal Science.

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