The hope for quantum computers is that the devices will be able to solve complex tasks such as predicting how chemicals react or cracking encrypted text. One of the main reasons that the machines are not yet living up to that potential is the fact that their error rates are high. Now, for the first time, physicists have matched detailed simulations done on quantum computers to experimental data gathered from work with solid materials. The research shows how the results of quantum simulations can be tested with real-world data ' a capability that will become increasingly important as these machines begin to make calculations that are beyond those that ordinary supercomputers can manage. Two teams achieved the results independently, and the work is described in two preprints posted on the arXiv server in the past two weeks. These are yet to be peer reviewed. The experiments were done with the explicit aim 'to contrast the data with what we're measuring in the quantum computer', says...
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