Quantum computing’s edge looked closer after a hard physics problem seemed beyond classical machines. But a new result shows compressed math and smarter algorithms can match or beat that benchmark, raising fresh questions about where true quantum advantage really begins. For years, quantum computers have carried a bold promise. They could solve problems so complex that even the world’s best classical computers would fail. That promise fueled a global race among scientists and technology companies to prove “quantum advantage,” the point where quantum machines outperform traditional computing systems. Now, physicists at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute and collaborators at Boston University have shaken that narrative. Using advanced mathematics, tensor networks and clever coding, the team solved a difficult quantum physics problem that another group had claimed only a quantum computer could handle. The breakthrough shows that classical computers may still have far more power than many researchers expected. In fact, some of the calculations were completed on a personal laptop. “Whenever we see these kinds of claims, we’re …