Imaginary numbers might seem like unicorns and goblins — interesting but irrelevant to reality. But for describing matter at its roots, imaginary numbers turn out to be essential. They seem to be ...

Quantum computing is a revolutionary form of computing that uses the principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations that would be infeasible or impossible for classical computers. Unlike ...

Researchers have developed a chip-based quantum random number generator that provides high-speed, high-quality operation on a miniaturized platform. This advance could help move quantum random number ...

Several years ago one of us, Toni, asked another of us, Marco, to come to his office at the Institute of Photonic Sciences, a large research center in Castelldefels near Barcelona. “There is a problem ...

Olival Freire Jr is a professor of physics and the history of physics at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. What makes matter stable? Why are atoms as they are? Why do different materials vary ...

The proof, known to be so hard that a mathematician once offered 10 martinis to whoever could figure it out, connects quantum mechanics to infinitely intricate mathematical structures. Hofstadter was ...

Researchers at Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) have built a quantum random number generator (QRNG) that delivers random bits periodically with high speed and is robust against ...

Random number generation is a central process in many applications, including cryptography, security, and scientific simulations. It is the process of generating a series of numbers that cannot be ...