RECOMMENDED READS: SOMMERFELD's FINE STRUCTURE CONSTANT.

Over at Space dot com, astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter has this interesting column on Sommerfeld's Fine Structure Constant, a universal constant which is a measure of the strength of the interaction between charged particles and the electromagnetic force. It's value is approximately 1/137.






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SATURDAY NIGHT THE SMITHS, STILL CORNERS.

The Smiths with Well I wonder. Album Meat is Murder (1985).





Possibly the best The Smiths song, Johnny Marr outdoing himself with wondrous guitar work and sound effects, and the ballad fittingly concluded with the sound of falling rain. The images are from the 1958 French crime thriller Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) featuring, a.o., young and pretty Jeanne Moreau.



Still Corners with The Trip. From the album Strange Pleasures, released in 2013.





British/American dream pop duo, formed in 2007 and consisting of songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Greg Hughes and vocalist/keyboardist Tessa Murray.


Nite.



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CHINA'S ZUCHONGZHI-3 BASED QUANTUM COMPUTER OUTPACES GOOGLE'S SYCAMORE BY SIX ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE.

🇨🇳CHINA’S NEW QUANTUM COMPUTER CRUSHES GOOGLE—BY A MILLION TIMES

China just pulled ahead in the quantum race, unveiling Zuchongzhi-3—a 105-qubit machine that makes Google's Sycamore processor look slow.

Researchers say this quantum beast performs calculations one million times… https://t.co/qhKsd2H9p3 pic.twitter.com/gCgCuk5h7S

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 8, 2025

Via SciTechDaily:

"...A new quantum computing breakthrough has sent shockwaves through the tech world. Researchers at USTC unveiled Zuchongzhi-3, a 105-qubit machine that processes calculations at speeds that dwarf even the most powerful supercomputers. It marks another leap forward in the quest for quantum supremacy, with the team demonstrating computational power orders of magnitude beyond Google’s latest results.


Breakthrough in Quantum Computing with Zuchongzhi-3

A research team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with its partners, has made significant progress in random quantum circuit sampling using Zuchongzhi-3 — a superconducting quantum computing prototype equipped with 105 qubits and 182 couplers. Zuchongzhi-3 operates at an astonishing speed, performing computations 1015 times faster than the most powerful supercomputer available today and one million times faster than Google’s latest published quantum computing results. This achievement marks a major breakthrough in quantum computing, building on the success of its predecessor, Zuchongzhi-2. The study, led by Jianwei Pan, Xiaobo Zhu, Chengzhi Peng, and other researchers from both China and abroad, was published as a cover article in Physical Review Letters.


The Road to Quantum Supremacy

Quantum supremacy, the ability of a quantum computer to perform tasks beyond the reach of classical computers, has been a key goal in the field. In 2019, Google’s 53-qubit Sycamore processor completed a random circuit sampling task in 200 seconds, a feat estimated to take 10,000 years on the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time. However, in 2023, USTC researchers demonstrated more advanced classical algorithms capable of completing the same task in 14 seconds using over 1,400 A100 GPUs. With the advent of the Frontier supercomputer, equipped with expanded memory, this task can now be performed in just 1.6 seconds, effectively challenging Google’s earlier claim of quantum supremacy.


Pushing the Boundaries: Jiuzhang and Zuchongzhi Milestones

Subsequently, using the optimal classical algorithm as its benchmark, the same team at USTC achieved the first rigorously proven quantum supremacy with the Jiuzhang photonic quantum computing prototype in 2020. This was followed in 2021 by a superconducting demonstration using the Zuchongzhi-2 processor. In 2023, the team’s development of the 255-photon Jiuzhang-3 demonstrated quantum supremacy that surpassed classical supercomputers by 1016 orders of magnitude. In October 2024, Google’s 67-qubit superconducting quantum processor, Sycamore, demonstrated quantum supremacy by outperforming classical supercomputers by nine orders of magnitude.


Zuchongzhi-3: A Leap in Quantum Performance

Building upon the 66-qubit Zuchongzhi-2, the USTC research team significantly enhanced key performance metrics to develop Zuchongzhi-3, which features 105 qubits and 182 couplers. The quantum processor achieves a coherence time of 72 μs, a simultaneous single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.90%, a simultaneous two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.62%, and a simultaneous readout fidelity of 99.13%. The extended coherence time provides the necessary duration for performing more complex operations and computations.To evaluate its capabilities, the team conducted an 83-qubit, 32-layer random circuit sampling task on the system. The results demonstrated a computational speed that outpaces the world’s most powerful supercomputer by 15 orders of magnitude and surpasses Google’s latest quantum computing results by six orders of magnitude, establishing the strongest quantum computational advantage in a superconducting system to date..."

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SATURDAY NIGHT GENESIS, LED ZEPPELIN.

Genesis with Hairless Heart. From the album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974).





English rock band Genesis formed at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. In their heyday, the band's line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, drummer/singer Phil Collins, singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett.



Led Zeppelin with Immigrant Song. Found on Led Zeppelin III (1970).





Legendary English rock band, formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page (ex-Yardbirds), singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham.


Nite.



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PRAGER UNIVERSITY: THE WRAP UP , JANUARY 11, 2025.

NEW: Los Angeles is devastated by massive wildfires, as criticism of California’s leaders heats up.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media company is abandoning third-party fact-checkers.

Nations across the world are making digital IDs mandatory.

And McDonald’s… pic.twitter.com/NjfgmnAwc8

— PragerU (@prageru) January 11, 2025

As regards the havoc being wrought on LA, while there is certainly a lot of blame to go around, it is worth giving some serious thought to Leighton Woodhouse's POV. Give it a read please.


Good night.



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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!!!

Like every year, DowneastBlog wishes its readers a Happy New Year!!!





And of course a solid health. It's only when your health is compromized that you start to realize it's the foundation of everything else. My body, my temple and all that, but it's true. Whether it's about your love life, your business acumen, your day-to-day operations... without a good health all of it is in serious jeopardy.


Thanks for following DB, and enjoy New Year's Eve!



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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024!!!

DowneastBlog wishes all its readers of good will a Merry Christmas!





And while hopefully - I sincerely wish so - you are enjoying a hearty meal and the company of loved ones and friends, please spare a thought and a prayer for (I hope your German can cope):

pic.twitter.com/RVuNJ2OD1W

— Anabel Schunke (@ainyrockstar) December 24, 2024

God Bless, and Good Night.



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IN MEMORIAM ANDRE GLEISSNER.

Prayers are asked for the victims of the Magdeburg islamic terror attack, in particular for André Gleissner:

André 9 years old, innocent victim in Magdeburg. The real responsible for what happened in Germany are the German socialist politicians. pic.twitter.com/5UJWzpyDab

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) December 21, 2024

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.

André kam übrigens direkt aus meiner Gegend. Wer für die Familie spenden will, kann das hier tun 🙏 pic.twitter.com/IZD3zsKmjp

— Anabel Schunke (@ainyrockstar) December 21, 2024

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SUNDAY NIGHT ART SNACK: CARL MOLL, WALTER LEISTIKOW, FRANCIS CADELL.

I cannot emphasize enough that imho, one of X's best art accounts is the one by Richard Morris. Even though the time frame from which he borrows his subjects is relatively small (by and large early 1800s - mid 1900s), he keeps coming up with lovely works crafted by artists whose fame is inversely proportional to their obvious talent. Without Mr Morris, I would probably never have heard of Carl Moll, Laura Knight, Edward Seago, Wilhelm Hammershoi and many, many others. Here are three individuals whose work merits far more attention and appreciation:


(via wikipedia) Carl Julius Rudolf Moll (23 April 1861 – 12 April 1945) was an Austrian Art Nouveau painter active in Vienna at the start of the 20th century. He was one of the artists of the Vienna Secession who took inspiration from the pointillist techniques of French Impressionists. He was an early supporter of the Nazis and committed suicide as Soviet forces approached Vienna at the end of World War II.

Art in Vienna around the turn of the 20thC is synonymous with the vibrant, extravagant canvases of Gustav Klimt. By contrast, the quiet, reflective painting 'At the Lunch Table,' (1901) by Carl Moll may strike one as an anomaly of the period, nevertheless it is a portrayal of… pic.twitter.com/w7LPS2Apmi

— Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) December 15, 2024

Walter Leistikow (1865–1908) was a German landscape painter, graphic artist, designer and art critic. In 1903, he was one of the co-founders of the Deutsche Kuenstlerbund. He committed suicide in 1908.

'Hafen.' (1890) Throughout his career, Walter Leistikow focused on landscapes, a mix of naturalism and abstraction, Impressionism and expressive colour eccentricities; capturing the mood of what he saw through the play of light and shadow at the beginning and ending of the day. pic.twitter.com/FJQnIcJmcN

— Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) December 12, 2024

(via wikipedia) Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell RSA (12 April 1883 – 6 December 1937) was a Scottish Colourist painter, renowned for his depictions of the elegant New Town interiors of his native Edinburgh, and for his work on Iona.

Francis Cadell's move to 6 Ainslie Place in Edinburgh in 1920 was to provide a stability and security that was reflected in his paintings. A chair often featured in his interiors and serves to emphasise the elegant proportions, refinement and class of the room. pic.twitter.com/9QKIkRqEII

— Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) December 10, 2024

Good night.



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RECOMMENDED VIDEO: EVEN BANANAS WITH "THE MOST NEUTRINOS EVER".

An immense amount of neutrino research is going on in the US, Japan and even Antarctica. On DowneastBlog, we've already mentioned several of these projects. This Even Bananas video deals with Fermilab's "near" detector, the SBND, for Short-Baseline Near Detector (the "far" one being ICARUS).






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RECOMMENDED VIDEO: "THORIUM REACTORS: WHY IS THIS TECHNOLOGY QUITE SO EXCITING."

The Thorium Fuel Cycle has been known for over 50 years and had staunch advocates, a.o. in The Netherlands, which in the 70s even boasted an experimental Thorium Reactor, KEMA, in Arnhem. But nothing came of it because it was the height of the Cold War, and the Thorium Fuel Cycle doesn't lead to Plutonium for atom bombs (to recap, in the thorium fuel cycle Th-232 absorbs a neutron, so that it transmutes into Th-233. Th-233 then beta decays to Pa-233 and finally undergoes a second beta minus decay to become U-233).


But, after that false start, Thorium may well become an important fuel in the nuclear technology mix:





Good night.



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SATURDAY NIGHT CULTS, GORILLAZ.

Cults with Always Forever. From the album Static (2013).





Cults is an American indie pop duo formed in New York City in 2010. Madeline Follin is singer, Brian Oblivion guitarist.



Gorillaz with On Melancholy Hill. Album Plastic Beach (2010).





Gorillaz are a British virtual band formed in 1998 by British musician Damon Albarn (ex Blur) and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums).


Good night.



MFBB.