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    "story_id": "mp-2026-09-18-026",
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    "headline": "A Logical Qubit Got a Four-Part Scale Test",
    "slug": "a-logical-qubit-got-a-four-part-scale-test",
    "dek": "Reliability, scale, capability and performance form a proposed common definition for utility-grade error correction.",
    "summary": "Reliability, scale, capability and performance form a proposed common definition for utility-grade error correction.",
    "body_text": "Logical-qubit demonstrations often optimize one metric while leaving replication, decoding latency or universal operations implicit. This paper defines a scalable logical qubit as one preserved through repeated correction for long computations, able to perform fault-tolerant universal operations with low-latency decoding and feedback, and replicable into the hundreds or thousands. It organizes comparison around four coupled dimensions: reliability, scale, capability and performance. The framework is a measurement proposal, not evidence that a current platform already meets the full definition.",
    "why_it_matters": "Reliability, scale, capability and performance form a proposed common definition for utility-grade error correction.",
    "limitations": [
      "The framework is a measurement proposal, not evidence that a current platform already meets the full definition."
    ],
    "importance": 8,
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    "first_published_at": "2026-09-18T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-09-18T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "Reliability, scale, capability and performance form a proposed common definition for utility-grade error correction.",
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        "qualification": "The framework is a measurement proposal, not evidence that a current platform already meets the full definition."
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    "tags": [
      "logical qubits",
      "quantum error correction",
      "scaling"
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    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-09-18-015",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2609.20549",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20549",
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      "source_type": "primary_research",
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      "published_at": "2026-09-17T11:15:13.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-09-18T08:26:40.599-04:00",
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  "publisher": {
    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "A Logical Qubit Got a Four-Part Scale Test",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-09-18T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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