Researchers at Google’s AI Quantum team have used a quantum computer to simulate a chemical reaction, the Hartree-Fock approximation of a real chemical system, for the first time. The reaction is a simple one, but this marks a step towards finding a practical use for quantum computers.
The researchers simulated a diazene molecule, which consists of two nitrogen atoms and two hydrogen atoms, undergoing a reaction in which the hydrogen atoms move into different configurations around the nitrogens.
The quantum simulation agreed with simulations the researchers performed on classical computers to check their work. (NewScientist)
