A woman scientist, Dr. Spiropulu and her colleagues simulated a pair of blackholes in a quantum computer, and sent a message through a wormhole, a short-cut in space and time.

As we know, at the macro level, gravity shapes the universe. At the micro-level of sub-atomic particles, however, quantum mechanics governs the realm. The experiment of Dr. Spiropulu is small attempt to understand the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanics.

The wormhole dynamics is made traversable in the experiment. The tunnel of wormhole created by the researchers is not in real physical space. It is in an emergent 2-D space. The blackholes are not real, but are lines of code in a quantum computer. It is just a toy model of the universe. It is akin to a hologram with quantum fields on space-time on the edges, deciding what happens inside. It is a way of analysing quantum phenomena using general relativity.

Wormholes are a hypothetical connection between widely separated regions of space-time. The word was coined in 1935. In General Theory of Relativity, matter and energy warp space to create gravity. Einstein and Rosen predicted short-cuts through space-time could exist — these are wormholes which connect pairs of blackholes.

Einstein and Rosen spoke in 1935 of a hypothetical tunnel-like structure called Einstein-Rosen bridge or a wormhole, which could potentially connect to distinct points in space-time.

It was also observed by Einstein, Rogen and Boris in 1935 that quantum mechanics was chancy. Einstein spoke of a ‘spooky action at a distance’. If one of a pair of particles is measured, it amounts to measuring the other particle, even if that is miles apart. It was thought incredible. Physicists call this entanglement. Juan in 2013 called entanglement and wormholes two sides of the same coin. The entangled particles were connected by wormholes. Einstein general relativity maths was employed to examine an aspect of quantum magic. It is called quantum teleportation.

In quantum teleportation, physicists send information between two particles entangled in a pair either near or miles apart. The physicists do not know the message. This technology would pave the way for quantum internet.

The buzz has originated in the US from a research finding by a team of particle physicists claiming a kind of teleportation of quantum states within a quantum computer.

In classical physics, there is no negative energy. In quantum theory, there can be negative energy which generates antigravitational effect. Virtual particles flit in and out of existence, making use of energy derived from empty space. These can enter a blackhole carrying a debt in the form an energy, which the blackhole has to pay back. Stephen Hawking calculated this small leak in 1974. It causes the blackhole to lose energy and shrink.

The wormhole magic was recreated by Dr Spiropulu on a quantum computer. IBM researchers in quantum computing work towards adding more capacity or qubits while engineers figure out how to stabilise these systems for error corrections and other practical issues.

There is a programming interface like IBM Qiskit available over the cloud to interact with the emerging systems and to explore potential applications.

In India, we would like to focus on quantum computing, quantum communications and related sensing technologies and material science. It is complex to develop quantum technology skills. An IIT-Madras study with a Poland team focused on adapting and proposing a quantum logic-based solution similar to the old unsolvable problem of 36 officers originally put forward by Euler.

The quantum concepts of superposition and entanglement could be applied to problem solving. This practice must be initiated early in students careers to bridge the gap between physics and computing. There are unresolved questions of physics, information, logic and computing. Young minds must be encouraged to advance the frontiers of this emerging technology.