Slashdot Mirror
Discovery of a "Flat" Atom Hailed as Quantum Computing Breakthrough
msw writes to tell us that nanoelectronics researchers have discovered a new molecule that could act as a state-manipulable atom due to its unique shape and properties. "Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms. An electric current is applied. Something strange arises on the surface -- an exotic molecule. On one end is the spherical submerged arsenic atom; on the other end is an 'artificial' flat atom, seemingly 2D, created as an artifact. The pair form an exotic molecule, which has a shared electron, which can be manipulated to be at either end, or in an intermediate quantum state."
and unleash them on the flux capacitor !!! we are getting into quantum artifact business.
Read radical news here
Include large quantities of arsenic in my computer. I mean, what could possibly go wrong!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Don't you mean indeterminate quantum state? The electron can't be in an intermediate state since there are only two possible states.
Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
I suspect that they mean some kind of artifact that behaves like an atom for certain useful purposes, but without explaining what that artifact is and what makes it behave like an atom they're not actually explaining anything.
I'm too stupid to even be able to make a smart ass joke about this article. Uh, does this mean reruns of Quantum Leap? (Must... try... harder...) 2D or not 2D, that is the question... Wait, maybe I've got it... "Artificial" flat... after years of artificial big, the new sub-genre of pr0n is artificial flat... I'll miss my karma, I suppose...
Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
Next time you think about putting your new quantum motherboard in your mouth think again.
With a 2D atom scientists can now predict (with considerably more accuracy) where that electron is located! This is amazing.
Back in my day, the President of the United States declared that arsenic counted as a vegetable in our school lunches, and although we didn't much like the taste, we all did our part to defeat the commies and make the world free. And this is the thanks the next generation has for us -- gettin' all uppity about using it in computers. Sheesh!
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
This is a sad commentary on the state of science reporting. The electron can't be in an intermediate state since there are only 2 possible states. Probably "indeterminate quantum state" is what was intended.
Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
Is there a big variety I'm unaware of?
lol.. are you French by any chance? (that's unrelated to your comment by the way, just the pun in your name)
You just got troll'd!
Can someone on slashdot please make sense of the article. It claims ;-)
1. That quantum computing needs vastly fewer bits to represent data. I thought it dealt with multiple possibilities simultaneously, but that the final reality just needed small number of bits. (Ideal for encryption cracking. Crap for storing a database)
2. That a synthetic atom was created. OK. I used to be a chemist. A new non-peridic table atom is heresy to me. But that extraordinary claim seemed to be nothing more than an odd electrical state, acting as if an unknown atom was present.
3. A molecule was created. Covalent bonds and the like. Except that it seemed to be an arsenic atom buried in a matrix. Not a separate molecule at all.
4. That faster than light communication is possible. I thought that collapsing entanglement does appear to happen faster than light, but that no information transfer happens. Mind you, that's my memory of my take on a New Scientist comment some time back. My brain has its share of garbage. Compost help ideas grow.
I suspect there is great science here being reported as little more than magic.
I'll settle for two of 'em. Because the picture in the article looks like boob.
That's pretty cool. I feel a little dizzy, but it's pretty cool...
Wil McCarthy insists that his Wellstone... an artificial state of matter (or something of that nature) involving a grid of pseudo-atoms... isn't entirely science fiction.
The Wellstone
The Collapsium
Lost in Transition
To Crush the Moon
Warning: I haven't been able to bring myself to read the final book in this series, the previous books have set it up as a serious downer and I've already got enough stress in my life as it is.
More like "troll." This is like criticizing someone who salts their fries for adding chlorine to the environment.
Delft's Rogge, the first of the discoverers stated, "Our experiment made us realize that industrial electronic devices have now reached the level where we can study and manipulate the state of a single atom. This is the ultimate limit, you cannot get smaller than that."
I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
In any analog system without hysteresis, and thus many digital systems too, you go through an unknown state as you transition from low to high.
IIRC, which I probably don't, quantum computing's indeterminate state is a bit more than just "unknown". It allows the calculation to be done with essentially "wildcard bits" that, when resolved magically give us the answer. THis essentially allows multiple parallel calculations. Unknown does not give us that.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
3 states of CMOS
Hi => 3.0 v
Lo => 0.7 v
Z => High Impedance
am tired of these flat molecules. I want the largest, firmest and the most ample molecules that I can get my hands on...
Wait... was thinking of something else. Never mind.
Uhm.. I thought quantum states where discrete...
it's like per definition.
But whatever..
x = 1/2
x E N
it's an excellent substitute for almonds in recipes. Slight indigestion does follow in some cases. YMMV.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
Yes, but does it run Linux?
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms.
Me: ??? <blink, blink>
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
Who the hell sat on my arsenic atom and let the air out?
Seems to be getting further and further behind the cusp of breaking news. I read about this sometime last week and was waiting for Slashdot to provide a little more insight.
Then I forgot about it until now.
You're nothing; like me.
There appears to be a fair amount of conjecture here. From the article:
"Hollenberg explained, "The team found that the measurements only made sense if the molecule was considered to be made of two parts. One end comprised the arsenic atom embedded in the silicon, while the 'artificial' end of the molecule forms near the silicon surface of the transistor. A single electron was spread across both ends. What is strange about the 'surface' end of the molecule is that it occurs as an artifact when we apply electrical current across the transistor and hence can be considered 'manmade.' We have no equivalent form existing naturally in the world around us."
Klimeck, and graduate student Rajib Rahman used the analysis to develop a three million-atom model in nano-electronics modeling program NEMO 3-D to analyze the behavior. From this, they determined that the exotic flat atom represented a controllable quantum state atom, via its electron. The quantum state was voltage dependent, the necessary characteristic for an electricity-based quantum computer.
Last David Ebert, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, and graduate student Insoo Woo, helped transform the model into an image to help visualize the discovery."
So, the supposed molecule exists so that the calculations make sense. The rest is modeled in a computer program. I remain unconvinced. Perhaps a year or two down the road quantum theory will reach a point at which the results of some experiment proven by the same mechanisms leads to a contradiction, thus derailing the very foundation on which discoveries like this are theorized?
Help fight poverty: Punch a poor person.
from the breakthroughs-by-mistake dept.
There's a word for that, just on the tip of my mind, meaning happy accident... ah yes: schadenfreude.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
In Soviet Russia, atoms flatten you.
Great. Now instead of math in binary, we'll all have to learn trinary! (maybe I didn't think this all the way out...)
...ah the possibilities.
bah... I'm gonna take the rest of the day off... nothing good can come from me today.
I want this account deleted.
All I was able to grasp was
Imagine ...
Reading everything after caused my brain to spin into the guard rail.
No sig for you!!
if you think Quantum Inverters and Flux Capacitors are offtopic in this topic of quantum artifacts, you are as geek as ted stevens pulling small tubes out of his butt.
Read radical news here
Where did you see the article?
...Keiraknightlium
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
The real question is: Now that we can create flat atoms, can we also create sharp atoms? And can we use them to create chords? This is some serious stuff; maybe this is the first time in history we can create detectable amounts of the theoretical F sharp minor matter.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
if the Enterprise is fired upon, the corbomite in the starship's hull will self-destruct and destroy both ships.
And- A flat arsenic atom will not help!
Apparently, diplomatic relationship is formed over drinks of Tranya, or perhaps Pinoqachole, and molecular structure is maintained.
So. What's the big deal here?
.
.
- aqk
F U
The real question is, will it blend?
simon
Rub it in!
From TFA, looks like 5318008 is the universal constant.
If you read the article I linked to, he describes getting a positron emitter and apparently even verifying the characteristic gamma rays from annihilations, exposing a vial of water to it, and reasoning that this produced homeopathically significant quantities of positronium in the process.
Given that "homeopathically significant quantities" includes "none", he's not even wrong about that. Not that it's useful information, mind you.
I'm almost inspired to write up a hoax article about creating homeopathically active dyes by exposing water to laser light, then diluting it 6C or so... and including an image of a blank canvas to demonstrate the quality of the result. :)
Almost.
Balok fell for Kirk's bluff.
'Not chess Mr Spock, POKER ! "
"Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms...."
>> Where do we get these "tiny" atoms -- all of mine are the regular size?
I thought this would be easy until they mentioned the size problem.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=208 'Shor, I'll do it' laymans guide to a useful quantum algorithm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_wire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_well
I love the way they say they've 'discovered' a new molecule because they created a computer model that says so. There is no accurate model of the atom. Even if their model is correct, the amount of ionising radiation hitting the circuitry would scramble the information. Not to mention heat effects. So if you sit it in a jar of liquid nitrogen and surround it with several feet of Lead you might be able to get a functioning machine (not exactly miniature). also doesn't solve the problem of how to detect such a tiny charge variation.
btw an indeterminate state is only one that hasn't been measured.