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Although quantum computing is a fast growing field, skill and expertise in this new area of technology is desperately needed, and leading Indian institutions along with IBM India have been working on a programme to skill India.

Quantum computing has found application across medicine, agriculture, and finance. The government of India launched the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications (NMQTA) stressing the importance of pushing forward the quantum domain in India. IBM India recently collaborated with leading institutions of India to accelerate training and research in quantum computing. Gadgets 360 talked to L Venkata Subramaniam, Senior Manager, AI at IBM Research India, Professor Anil Shaji from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram, and Professor Anil Prabhakar of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras to understand what quantum computing is all about.

Is quantum computing a once in an era sort of change?

The power of quantum computing comes from two basic phenomena of quantum mechanics – superposition and quantum entanglement. While the bits in a classical computer exist as a string of zeros and ones, a quantum bit or a qubit can stay in a state of a combination of zero and one – this is called superposition. Entanglement, the other phenomena that powers quantum computing, is a connection between qubits. “The qubits needn’t be close to each other. One qubit can be in Delhi and the other can be in the other end of the universe. But if they are entangled, then by looking at the state of one of the qubit, you’ll be able to predict the state of the other qubit,” explained Subramaniam. By exploiting these two phenomena, quantum computing can be put into use in a wide range of activities ranging from speeding up the discovery of drugs and fertilizers to solving complex optimisation problems.

The government in its budget last year had announced NMQTA under the Ministry of Science and Technology with a total budget outlay of Rs. 8000 crore for the advancement of quantum technology. IBM’s collaboration with the leading educational institutions in India is aligned with this step by the government. Through IBM’s Quantum Educator Programme, the company will join hands with the faculty and students of Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) – Pune, IISER – Thiruvananthapuram, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Jodhpur, IIT – Kanpur, IIT – Kharagpur, IIT – Madras, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai, and the University of Calcutta to further research and education in quantum computing.

IBM introduced quantum computers over the cloud almost 5 years ago. The collaborating institutions will get priority access to IBM’s quantum systems, learning resources, and quantum tools over the cloud. Thus the students will get an opportunity to work on actual quantum computers and programme them using Qiskit, a python-based open-source framework developed by IBM.

Skilling India to lead the way?

A 2019 study published by Progressive Policy Institute pointed out that India will overtake the US as the world’s largest developer population centre by 2024. With a bit of training starting at the university level, the STEM students from India could adapt themselves to work and lead in the quantum computing arena with greater efficiency.

Talking about the current state of quantum technology courses in Indian institutions, Subramaniam said, “A lot of the courses are very theoretical in nature, there are no hands-on lab sessions. We are enabling the students and the faculty to get all the materials including the lab materials, the study material, and the start up code which will get them started”.

According to Professor Shaji of IISER Thiruvananthapuram, there is a bit of an issue in managing the expectations of students regarding quantum computing. “A lot of students are really interested in studying quantum computing now because of all the emphasis and also a bit of a hype surrounding quantum computing and quantum technologies,” Professor Shaji said. IISER

Thiruvananthapuram is also a part of the NMQTA. One of the researches that IISER is undertaking involves building a quantum computer using a different technology than that of IBM.

Professor Shaji said that the collaboration initiated by IBM will have a significant cascading effect in the term of five to ten years as the students are getting an early exposure to this up and coming technology. Talking about the student’s response he added, “There is quite a bit of news hype around this subject, so one goes in there expecting miracles to come out of it. It is important that the students understand that the technology is still in its baby steps. It is necessary to understand there are things that you can do and there are things that you would like to do but cannot do yet.”

IIT Madras has a Centre for Quantum Information, Communication, and Computing, where quantum computing is one among the three verticals in quantum research for the institution. Apart from the Quantum Educator’s Programme, IIT Madras has also joined hands with IBM for a course on quantum computing at the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), an online learning platform funded by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India which provides free courses on university-level STEM subjects. The quantum computing course on NPTEL which is set to start by late August has already received over 6,000 registrations, a clear indication of student-interest towards the subject.

Professor Prabhakar of IIT Madras said that the institution has priority access to a number of IBM’s quantum machines. “Our students are able to take a quantum computing lab where they are running problems on these machines. Many of the machines are also available to the public, but not with priority. We can also reserve some machines for use for our students. This enables the students to be more focused on what they are doing. Our goal is to be able to train at least 15 students each year at a higher level.”

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NASA Solves Black Hole Jet X-ray Mystery with IXPE’s Polarization Powers

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16 hours ago

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May 9, 2025

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NASA Solves Black Hole Jet X-ray Mystery with IXPE’s Polarization Powers

The blazar BL Lacertae, a giant black hole with jets, facing the earth, have made scientists curious about how X-rays are generated in such extreme conditions for a while. NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE now might have been able to solve the mystery. By a collaboration with radio and optical telescopes and using polarisation measurements of X-ray, IXPE’s produced results indicates that the interaction between fast-moving electrons and photons might be the reason for X-ray emission in such conditions.

Evidence of Compton Scattering

According to the IXPE’s findings, high optical to X-ray polarization ratio indicates that Compton scattering might be the mechanism of X-ray generation. There are two possible and competing explanations of X-ray emission in blazar jets. One saying if the X-rays in the black hole jets are highly polarised, then the X-rays are generated from interactions between photons while the other says a low polarisation indicates X-ray formation by electron-photon interaction.

Leveraging IXPE’s unique X-ray polarisation measuring ability, scientists conducted a focused observation on BL Lac in November 2023. During this period, BL Lac’s optical polarization peaked at 47.5%, the highest recorded for any blazar. Yet IXPE found the X-ray polarization to be much lower, capped at 7.6%. This contrast supports the Compton scattering and possibly irradicates the photon-based explanation.

Milestone for blazar studies

“This was one of the biggest mysteries about supermassive black hole jets,” said Iván Agudo, lead author of the study and astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía – CSIC in Spain. The discovery validates IXPE’s mission, launched in December 2021 to study X-ray polarization.

Astrophysicist Enrico Costa, called it one of IXPE’s most significant achievements. Yet, this is just the beginning. Project scientist Steven Ehlert noted the need to observe more blazars, as their emissions vary over time. With IXPE, astronomers are now better equipped to explore these powerful cosmic jets.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida

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16 hours ago

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May 9, 2025

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida

SpaceX continued its rapid-fire Starlink deployment campaign on Tuesday night (May 6), lofting 28 more internet satellites to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch itself took place at 9:17 p.m. EDT (0117 GMT on May 7) from Launch Complex-40, marking the company’s 53rd Falcon 9 launch of 2025 and the 36th dedicated Starlink mission this year. The payload offers worldwide internet connectivity by adding to SpaceX’s swiftly expanding array of over 7,200 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.

As per a Space.com report, B1085, the reusable first-stage booster, executed a perfect main engine cut about 2.5 minutes after launch, then stage separation and a retrograde burn to stop its descent. Roughly eight minutes after launch, B1085 successfully landed on the autonomous drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission was the seventh flight for this particular booster, which had previously supported two other Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9‘s upper stage continued into orbit and deployed the 28 Starlink satellites roughly one hour after launch. These newly deployed units will spend several days adjusting their positions before integrating into the broader Starlink network, which now blankets most of the globe except the polar regions. Each satellite, compact but equipped with large solar arrays, forms part of the larger web responsible for delivering high-speed satellite internet.

The May 6 launch demonstrates how quickly SpaceX is moving to meet its broadband goals. In addition to Falcon 9 missions, the company has performed two Starship test flights this year to demonstrate development progress in both satellite launch and heavy-lift capability.

An expanding constellation would finally bring reliable internet coverage to remote locations around the world. The drive to offer a reliable internet connection to remote sites globally reflects a commitment to putting the world more in reach.

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Asteroid Vesta May Be a Fragment of a Lost Planet, Say Scientists

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17 hours ago

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May 9, 2025

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Asteroid Vesta May Be a Fragment of a Lost Planet, Say Scientists

Asteroid Vesta, long considered a stalled protoplanet, may actually be a massive fragment of a larger world that once existed in our solar system. New findings based on gravity-field mapping and spin-rate data suggest Vesta lacks the dense core typically found in differentiated planetary bodies. The discovery challenges previous assumptions, drawn from NASA’s Dawn mission in 2012, that classified Vesta as an embryonic planet. Now, scientists report that Vesta might have been ejected from a differentiated world in a massive collision 4.5 billion years ago, upending ideas about the development of planets and asteroids.

New Gravity Data Suggests Vesta Is Debris from a Destroyed Planet, Not a Protoplanet

As per a new study published in Nature Astronomy on April 23, 2025, Vesta does not quite match the former model. Refined calibration methods polished the radio Doppler signals, confirming the absence of a metal-rich core, which was inconsistent with earlier work. Seth Jacobson of Michigan State University, who led the research, stated the new interpretation marks a major shift in planetary science. While Vesta’s basaltic, volcanic surface still indicates geological activity, its internal uniformity contradicts the expectations of a body that once underwent full differentiation.

This paradox has caused scientists to reconsider the asteroid’s heritage. One scenario is that Vesta started to differentiate but never got very far. But data from meteorites called howardite-eucrite-diogenites (HEDs), thought to have come from Vesta, show no signs of such incomplete differentiation. Jacobson and his team instead favour the explanation that Vesta was formed from material blasted off a fully developed planet during an ancient planetary collision, which could also illustrate its volcanic surface without requiring it to have a dense core.

The results not only question Vesta’s identity but also suggest a possibility of a more general theory: that other asteroids could also be pieces of shattered planets. NASA’s Psyche and ESA’s Hera missions, planned for the next decades, intend to do such gravity investigations, which could ultimately confirm this new view. Jacobson noted that Vesta’s composition could even hint at a shared origin with Earth or other early planets, a hypothesis that may reshape asteroid science entirely.

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