Below threshold: what a surface-code memory proves
Increasing code distance can improve a logical memory while leaving important computational capabilities untested. Use the measured task, denominator, and decoder conditions to assess the claim.
Research analysis
Source-based readings of quantum research, alongside comparisons of the observatory’s corpus and its limits.
48 logical qubits: read the acceptance conditions too
A logical-qubit count becomes informative when paired with encoding, circuit, evaluation metric, and retained trials. This note offers a worksheet for comparing demonstrations with different selection conditions.
Better than physical: which circuit is the baseline?
An improvement factor needs its physical baseline and selection rule. Use this paper to practice comparing an encoded circuit with the actual unencoded task, rather than a headline gate fidelity.
Check coverage before comparing two weeks
This analysis shows why source coverage, publication dates, and indexing delays must be checked before a weekly increase is interpreted as growth.
What linked versions change in a weekly count
The observatory keeps source records separate for provenance while grouping only explicitly connected publication versions for research counts.
Why quantum topic counts overlap
Multi-label topic rules support discovery, but their totals cannot be added or interpreted as exclusive market shares.
Citation counts are context, not a ranking
Citation metadata can help readers orient themselves, but it cannot fairly rank new work or replace reading the evidence.