Quantum device developed able to represent multiple futures in simultaneous quantum superposition

The initial prototype can represent up to 16 simultaneous futures

A team of researchers from Singapore and Australia claim to have developed the prototype of a quantum device capable of generating all possible futures in a simultaneous quantum superposition.

The research was led by assistant professor Mile Gu from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in collaboration with professor Geoff Pryde from Australia's Griffith University.

'The future' offers a vast range of possibilities, which grow exponentially as one moves deeper into the future, said Professor Gu.

"For instance, even if we have only two possibilities to choose from each minute, in less than half an hour there are 14 million possible futures. In less than a day, the number exceeds the number of atoms in the universe," he added.

A feature of this quantum device its ability to represent bias towards potential outcomes based on their probability of occurrence

The current research was inspired by the works of Nobel Laureate and physics icon Richard Feynman, who was the first to propose that a subatomic particle travelling from one point to another won't necessarily select a single path.

Instead, that particle would simultaneously follow all the possible paths connecting the two points.

Professor Gu's team extended that idea. They realised that a quantum computing device could potentially examine all possible futures of a decision process by putting them in a quantum superposition - a state where different possible states occur simultaneously.

The system "collapses" into one state or another only when it is observed or disturbed.

Professor Gu's team built a photonic quantum information processor that works on a subatomic scale and can represent potential outcomes of a decision process through the locations of photons.

The team also showed in an experiment that the state of the quantum device was a superposition of multiple possible futures.

According to the researchers, their initial prototype can currently represent a maximum 16 simultaneous futures, although the underlying quantum algorithm can theoretically scale without limit.

A particular feature of this quantum device its ability to represent bias towards potential outcomes based on their probability of occurrence. This capability can be used to measures how much an individual's bias towards a particular choice in the present would impact the future.

The detailed findings of the research are published in the journal Nature Communications.

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