Imagine peering deep inside matter at the quantum level, where unimaginably small particles can interact in over a trillion different ways at once.
That kind of complexity is staggering. To make sense of it, physicists often depend on powerful supercomputers or artificial intelligence to simulate how these quantum systems behave and evolve.
But what if many of these simulations could be done using an ordinary laptop instead?
Scientists have long suspected this was possible in theory, yet turning that idea into something practical has taken much longer to achieve.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have now brought this goal within reach. They expanded a cost-effective computational technique known as the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) — essentially a physics shortcut that simplifies quantum mathematics — so that it can be used to tackle complex problems once thought to demand immense computing power.
Equally significant, their new version of TWA, described in a study published in September in PRX Quantum (a journal of the American Physical Society), introduces a clear, accessible framework that enables researchers to input their data and produce reliable results in just a few hours.
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