In a groundbreaking development, a team of scientists from the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Croatia, in collaboration with partners from Germany and France, has created LimitX, a new software designed to accelerate quantum simulations. This innovative software leverages machine learning and neural networks to significantly reduce the computational time required for these complex simulations, potentially shrinking calculations from days to mere hours or even minutes.
Developed as part of the €4.5 million Inno4scale European project, which began in 2024, LimitX aims to optimize the use of exascale supercomputers. These powerful machines are capable of performing a quintillion operations per second, promising advancements in fields like precision medicine, climate research, and the development of new materials. Preliminary results indicate that LimitX can drastically speed up quantum simulations, opening up new possibilities for various industries.
"As exascale computers arrive, the real question becomes how to use them intelligently," stated Dr. Davor Davidović, head of the Informatics and Computing Centre. Pharmaceutical companies could test hundreds of thousands of molecules in a week, and researchers could accelerate the discovery of new compounds. The team is preparing LimitX for pilot testing on exascale computers available to the academic community and industry through the EuroHPC supercomputer network. If the preliminary results are confirmed, this computational method could soon become a standard tool for quantum simulations used by universities, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies across Europe.