On Google’s Sycamore quantum computer, scientists just simulated one. The findings imply that such devices could be used to test fundamental physical theories. Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen proposed the existence of wormholes in a 1935 paper. In general, they described a space-time bridge that connects two black holes in different locations.
How did Google achieve this milestone?
The experiment relied on the holographic principle, a powerful idea from theoretical physics that attempts to connect the two best theories of the way the world operates mechanics and general relativity—which are incompatible in their current form.
This “duality” makes it theoretically possible to design quantum systems that are equivalent to macroscopic structures in space-time, in addition to answering fundamental questions about the universe. Spiropulu’s team used this method to simulate a traversable wormhole on a nine-qubit quantum circuit.
Their experiment built on previous research suggesting that two sets of particles with a set sequence of entanglement could be equivalent to a pair of black holes connected by a wormhole. Furthermore, quantum information teleportation between these two sets of particles is equivalent to quantum information passing through the wormhole.
To put the theory to the test, the researchers built a quantum system on the Sycamore processor and fed a single unit of quantum information, or qubit, into a single set of particles. They then saw it emerge from the other set of particles, but it displayed the same dynamics as would be expected when crossing a traversable wormhole at larger scales.
For starters, they discovered that information only teleported when quantum equivalents of the negative energy required to traverse wormholes were applied.
To wrap things up
It’s important to note, however, that the experiment comes with a slew of caveats. The wormholes that the group was simulating, as well as the holographic principle that underpins them, exist in a hypothetical universe that operates very differently from our own. Their wormhole model had to be severely shortened as well. To fully implement them, far more qubits would have been required than any quantum processor is likely to have soon.
