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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://www.hpcwire.com/2017/09/14/ibm-breaks-ground-complex-quantum-chemistry/ [hpcwire.com]

IBM [reported] in Nature Communications the use of a novel algorithm to simulate BeH₂ (beryllium-hydride) on a quantum computer. This is the largest molecule so far simulated on a quantum computer. The technique, which used six qubits of a seven-qubit system, is an important step forward and may suggest an approach to simulating ever larger molecules.

"Instead of forcing previously known classical computing methods onto quantum hardware, the scientists reversed the approach by building an algorithm suited to the capability of the current available quantum devices. This allows for extracting the maximal quantum computational power to solve problems that grow exponentially more difficult for classical computers," according to the IBM announcement.

[...] Today, simulating even small molecules with the needed accuracy to predict energy states and reactivity is hard. IBM performed the numerical simulation on H₂, LiH, and BeH₂. "While this model of BeH₂ can be simulated on a classical computer, IBM's approach has the potential to scale towards investigating larger molecules that would traditionally be seen to be beyond the scope of classical computational methods, as more powerful quantum systems get built," noted IBM.

Beryllium hydride [wikipedia.org]

Hardware-efficient variational quantum eigensolver for small molecules and quantum magnets [nature.com] (DOI: 10.1038/nature23879) (DX [doi.org])

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