UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — A radiation ‘glitch’ limits quantum computing

Q1. In the context of radiation-induced errors in superconducting quantum computers recently reported by Google Quantum AI, what is a 'Bogoliubov quasiparticle'?

  • A. An elementary particle produced in cosmic ray air showers that directly ionises the qubit substrate
  • B. A collective excitation in a superconductor, arising when Cooper pairs are broken, that behaves as a particle and disrupts qubit coherence
  • C. A vibrational mode (phonon) in the silicon substrate of the quantum chip
  • D. A microwave photon emitted when a qubit spontaneously decays from its excited state

Q2. The May 2026 paper in Physical Review X that identified 'correlated phase error bursts' from ionising radiation as a new systemic threat to quantum error correction was authored by researchers from which one of the following?

  • A. IBM Quantum
  • B. Google Quantum AI
  • C. Microsoft Azure Quantum
  • D. Intel Quantum Labs

Q3. According to the 2025 synchronous cosmic-ray–qubit detection study on a transmon array, approximately how many seconds elapse on average between successive cosmic-ray-induced correlated error events?

  • A. about 92 seconds
  • B. about 292 seconds
  • C. about 592 seconds
  • D. about 1,592 seconds

Q4. Consider the following statements about the recently reported radiation 'glitch' in quantum computers: 1. The newly identified failure mode is termed 'correlated phase error bursts'. 2. The affected hardware platform is the transmon (superconducting) qubit. 3. The proposed hardware-level mitigation is 'gap engineering' of the superconducting film. 4. The qubit array operates at temperatures below about 15 millikelvin. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The newly identified failure mode is termed 'correlated phase error bursts'.
  2. The affected hardware platform is the transmon (superconducting) qubit.
  3. The proposed hardware-level mitigation is 'gap engineering' of the superconducting film.
  4. The qubit array operates at temperatures below about 15 millikelvin.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2, 3 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 3 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 2, 3 and 4