IBM and University of Chicago report a quantum computation classical methods can't practically reproduce, with built-in proof it's accurate
IBM $IBM and University of Chicago researchers ran a quantum computation using 70 error-corrected logical qubits that finished in about 15 minutes, a task leading classical simulation methods can't practically match, while also providing statistical evidence the result is accurate. Per IBM Research and Interesting Engineering.
IBM $IBM and University of Chicago researchers, led by IBM's Jay Gambetta and University of Chicago's Bill Fefferman, ran a quantum computation using 70 error-corrected logical qubits, executing 2,415 logical two-qubit operations and 468 logical T gates. The computation finished in about 15 minutes, a task IBM says leading classical simulation methods cannot practically reproduce. The team's new circuit design, described in the paper 'Sampling hard circuits with verifiably high fidelity,' also allows errors to be detected during the computation itself, addressing a long-standing difficulty in verifying that a quantum computer's result is correct. Effective logical error rates were 10 times lower than the underlying physical error rates. The paper is currently posted on the preprint server arXiv; IBM is the company that built and ran the hardware being described, so the announcement reflects IBM's own characterization of its results. Sources: IBM Research, ScienceDaily, Interesting Engineering.