Predictions for cooling a solid to its ground state

A major goal of quantum computing research is to drain all quanta $(q)$ of thermal energy from a solid at a positive temperature $T_{0}>0,$ leaving the object in its ground state. In 2010 the first complete success was reported when a quantum drum was cooled to its ground state at $T_{0}=20\textrm {mK.}$ However, current theory, which is based on the Bose-Einstein equation, predicts that the temperature $T \to 0$ as $q \to 0.$ We prove that this discrepancy between experiment and theory is due to previously unobserved errors in low temperature predictions of the Bose-Einstein equation. We correct this error and derive a new formula for temperature which proves that $T \to T_{0}>0$ as $q \to 0.$ Simultaneously, the energy decreases to its ‘supersolid’ ground state level as $q \to 0^{+}.$ For experimental data our temperature formula predicts that $T_{0}= 9.8\textrm {mK,}$ in close agreement with the $20\textrm {mK}$ experimental result. Our results form a first step towards bridging the gap between existing theory and the construction of useful quantum computing devices.