Quantum knowledge cools computers: New understanding of entropy

From a laptop warming a knee to a supercomputer heating a room, the idea that computers generate heat is familiar to everyone. But theoretical physicists have discovered something astonishing: not only do computational processes ...

Strengthening the second law of thermodynamics

According to the second law of thermodynamics, the total entropy of a closed process can increase or stay the same, but never decrease. The second law guarantees, for example, that an egg can wobble off a table and leave ...

Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry, sociologists from four major research institutions focus on one of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election: ...

A new theory of quantum subsystems

When studying a complex system, scientists identify smaller pieces called subsystems that they can make sense of. By studying subsystems and the correlations between them, they reconstruct an understanding of the whole.

Solving 'barren plateaus' is the key to quantum machine learning

Many machine learning algorithms on quantum computers suffer from the dreaded "barren plateau" of unsolvability, where they run into dead ends on optimization problems. This challenge had been relatively unstudied—until ...

Prediction or cause? Information theory may hold the key

(PhysOrg.com) -- "A perplexing philosophical issue in science is the question of anticipation, or prediction, versus causality," Shawn Pethel tells PhysOrg.com. "Can you tell the difference between something predicting an ...

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