A paper that appeared online briefly showed that Google physicists used a quantum computer to perform a calculation beyond the reach of a conventional supercomputer.
A paper that appeared on the website of NASA’s Ames Research Center showed evidence that Google researchers have broken a critical boundary in quantum computing. The paper disappeared from the website, but not before it was downloaded and circulated online. It has not yet been substantiated by Google, but widespread belief is that the paper is legitimate.
“It’s a great scientific achievement,” says physicist Chad Rigetti, founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing in Berkeley and Fremont, California, which is developing its own quantum computers. “Google called their shot,” he adds. Greg Kuperberg, a mathematician at the University of California, Davis, calls the advance “a big step to