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Physicists used Google’s Sycamore quantum processor to simulate selected dynamics of a simplified quantum system, and observed quantum information emerge in a way that also matched a theoretical description involving a traversable wormhole. The surprise was that a model reduced to fit the hardware retained other characteristics the team wanted to study. They did not create a physical wormhole or observe a black hole.
Did physicists create a wormhole in a quantum computer?
No. The 2022 Caltech-led experiment studied a deliberately simplified Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK)-like model on Google’s Sycamore processor. In the quantum-information description, the process transferred a qubit’s information between entangled systems. A complementary gravity description treats the modeled dynamics as analogous to information passing through a traversable wormhole. That is a theoretical correspondence, not evidence of a tunnel in spacetime.
The distinction matters: a quantum processor can simulate selected behavior predicted by a theory without reproducing the physical object used to describe that behavior. The result was a probe of a proposed link between quantum mechanics and gravity, not proof that macroscopic wormholes exist or that quantum gravity has been experimentally solved. Caltech described it as a step toward a broader research program, not a substitute for direct tests of gravity.
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Quantum teleportation is a protocol for transferring quantum-state information using entanglement and communication. It does not move matter, people, or a signal faster than light. In this experiment, the team inserted a qubit into one of two entangled systems and observed the information emerge from the other. The word “teleportation” refers to that quantum-information process.
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The same modeled process can be described in two ways. These are not two separate events or observations; they are complementary interpretations of the system’s behavior.
| View | What it describes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Quantum-information description | Entangled systems and a protocol through which the inserted qubit’s information is transferred. | Transport of matter or faster-than-light messaging. |
| Gravity description | A traversable-wormhole analogue: the modeled dynamics behave as expected in a theoretical wormhole picture. | A physical wormhole created or detected in the processor. |
How did the black-hole idea inspire the experiment?
The theoretical background connects quantum entanglement with wormhole geometry, an idea often summarized as ER=EPR. Later theoretical work described conditions in which a traversable-wormhole picture corresponds to a quantum-teleportation process. The Caltech account traces this line of work from a 2013 proposal connecting entanglement and wormholes, through a 2017 traversable-wormhole construction, to proposals involving two entangled SYK systems.
That connection gave researchers a way to study a difficult many-particle quantum process through a gravitational perspective. As Caltech quoted John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics and director of its Institute for Quantum Information and Matter: “The near-term significance of this type of experiment is that the gravitational perspective provides a simple way to understand an otherwise mysterious many-particle quantum phenomenon.” The perspective is useful precisely as a theoretical description; it should not be mistaken for a literal tunnel.
How did the team run the experiment on Sycamore?
The full SYK model was too complex for the quantum hardware architecture available to the team. Researchers therefore used machine-learning techniques on conventional computers to find and prepare a reduced, SYK-like model that retained selected gravitational characteristics. They then implemented that model on Google’s Sycamore quantum processor.
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- Reduce the theoretical system: Use machine learning on conventional computers to produce a model tractable for the quantum processor while preserving characteristics relevant to the study.
- Encode the modeled dynamics: Run the simplified SYK-like system on Sycamore, rather than attempting to create or load a physical black hole or wormhole.
- Compare pulse conditions: Apply the equivalent of a negative-energy pulse and look for the signatures predicted for traversable-wormhole dynamics; then compare with the opposite, positive-energy pulse.
The team reported the key signatures with the negative-energy pulse. The opposite, positive-energy pulse did not produce those signatures. The sources do not provide a single headline benchmark figure for this result, so the finding is best understood through the reported contrast and the model’s scope rather than an invented score or scale.
What was the surprise?
Arriving at a model that both fit the hardware and retained the desired behavior took substantial simplification and optimization. The authors reported that optimizing one characteristic unexpectedly preserved other metrics they were trying to retain. Caltech quoted co-author Samantha Davis, a graduate student at the time, saying: “It took a really long time to arrive at the results, and we surprised ourselves with the outcome.”
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Maria Spiropulu, Caltech’s Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, described the result this way: “It is curious and surprising how the optimization on one characteristic of the model preserved the other metrics!” The surprise was about the model and its optimization—not the discovery of an actual wormhole.
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What the result does—and does not—show
- It shows: A quantum processor can probe selected dynamics of a reduced SYK-like system, and the observed behavior was consistent with the team’s traversable-wormhole interpretation.
- It supports: Using quantum hardware to investigate theoretical ideas about the relationship between quantum information and gravity.
- It does not show: A physical black hole or spacetime wormhole was created, that information traveled through an actual tunnel in spacetime, or that the experiment settled the full theory of quantum gravity.
The experiment was published in Nature as “Traversable wormhole dynamics on a quantum processor” on 30 November 2022; the paper appeared in Nature 612, 51–55 (2022). Read the experimental paper in Nature. Caltech’s account, published the same day, provides the team’s explanation and comments: Caltech’s report on the experiment. A related 2023 PRX Quantum paper discusses proposed laboratory protocols, including “teleportation by size”; it is related theory, not the Sycamore experiment described here. Read the PRX Quantum paper.
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