Category Physics

Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly large language models like GPT-4, has shown impressive performance on reasoning tasks. But does AI truly understand abstract concepts, or is it just mimicking patterns? A new study from the University of Amsterdam and the Santa Fe Institute reveals that while GPT models perform well on some analogy tasks, they fall short when the problems are altered, highlighting key weaknesses in AI’s reasoning capabilities. The work is published in Transactions on Machine Learning Research.

Analogical reasoning is the ability to draw a comparison between two different things based on their similarities in certain aspects...

In a leap forward for quantum computing, a Microsoft team led by UC Santa Barbara physicists on Wednesday unveiled an eight-qubit topological quantum processor, the first of its kind. The chip, built as a proof-of-concept for the scientists’ design, opens the door to the development of the long-awaited topological quantum computer.

“We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we’ve been keeping under wraps that we’re dropping all at once now,” said Microsoft Station Q Director Chetan Nayak, a professor of physics at UCSB and a Technical Fellow for Quantum Hardware at Microsoft...

Physicists have developed a novel approach to maintain special quantum characteristics, even in 3D materials, with potential applications in optical systems and advanced computing.

There is a big problem with quantum technology — it’s tiny...

The speed of light is often regarded as the ultimate cosmic speed limit, but researchers have now managed to slow it down dramatically—to just 61 kilometers per hour. This was achieved by using a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a peculiar quantum state of matter that allows light to be slowed or even stopped entirely. This discovery, which builds on decades of research, has implications for quantum physics, computing, and information storage.

The Quantum Jelly Effect
In everyday conditions, light moves at 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum, and its speed decreases slightly when passing through materials like glass or ...