With a new contribution to probability theory, researchers show that relatively simple physical systems could yield powerful quantum computers.

Quantum computers are devices \u2014 still largely theoretical \u2014 that could perform certain types of computations much faster than classical computers; one way they might do that is by exploiting "spin," a property of tiny particles of matter. A "spin chain," in turn, is a standard model that physicists use to describe systems of quantum particles, including some that could be the basis for quantum computers.

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