Quantum computers could simulate a black hole in the next decade

A quantum computer capable of simulating the exotic behaviour of a black hole and answering questions at the frontier of modern physics could be possible in the next decade, according to one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists.

One long-standing goal for physicists like Juan Maldacena at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, is to unite the theories of quantum mechanics and gravity. Maldacena and others think black holes might contain clues about a theory of quantum gravity, because they are …