The game of mangala may have originated in Jordan as early as 6000 BC and is still played around the world today. It consists of stones that players move between a series of small holes on a wooden game board. The object of the game is to place all the tiles in the last hole at the end of the board.

In a new study published in the journal AVS Quantum ScienceResearchers at Tulane University are applying a modified version of ManQala solitaire, which they call ManQala, to quantum state engineering, a branch of quantum physics that deals with putting quantum systems into specific states.

According to Ryan Glasser, professor of physics in the School of Science and Engineering, the main problem quantum state engineering is trying to solve is “what do I need to do to get my quantum system to be in the desired state?” Essentially, researchers need to know how to hold particles in certain places or have certain energies in order to study them and use quantum computers.

It is more difficult with quantum particles than with stones on a barbecue board, for example. “Generally speaking, quantum things are very delicate and difficult to control,” Glasser said. “The system can quickly collapse and cause you to lose any advantage you have or want to have.”

Quantum physicists already have several methods for solving these problems, but simulations performed by the researchers in this study showed ManQala to be more effective even on simpler systems. “Even with these simplified three-stone, three-well systems, we’re already seeing the benefits,” Glasser said.

The research is one of many in the field of quantum games that “effectively takes common games like Sudoku, checkers, or tic-tac-toe and applies the rules of quantum physics to them and sees what interesting things can happen,” Glasser said. When we are dealing with quantum particles rather than physical stones, there is a possibility that the particles will interfere with each other when they are in neighboring “holes”. That means there are more moves, and for ManQala at least, “you can win the game if you use quantum rules and not if you use classical rules,” Glasser said.

While this research has focused on modeling, Glasser is optimistic about future applications of ManQala. “It’s in theory right now, but I definitely think it could be done experimentally,” Glasser said. Said. He hopes to apply ManQala to the IBM Quantum cloud computer he has used for research in the past with fellow researchers Thomas Searles of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Brian Kirby, assistant professor of physics at Tulane. Source