Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1806.06310 · Physical Review A

Error reduction in quantum annealing using boundary cancellation: Only the end matters

Lorenzo Campos Venuti, Daniel A. Lidar

Published Aug 13, 2018• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics states that the error between an instantaneous eigenstate of a time-dependent Hamiltonian and the state given by quantum evolution of duration $\ensuremath{\tau}$ is upper bounded by $C/\ensuremath{\tau}$ for some positive constant $C$. It has been known for decades that this error can be reduced to ${C}_{k}/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{k+1}$ if the Hamiltonian has vanishing derivatives up to order $k$ at the beginning and end of the evolution. Here we extend this result to open systems described by a time-dependent Liouvillian superoperator. We find that the same results holds provided the Liouvillian has vanishing derivatives up to order $k$ only at the end of the evolution. This asymmetry is ascribable to the arrow of time inherent in open system evolution. We further investigate whether it is possible to satisfy the required assumptions by controlling only the system, as required for realistic implementations. Surprisingly, we find the answer to be affirmative. We establish this rigorously in the setting of the Davies-Lindblad adiabatic master equation, and numerically in the setting of two different time-dependent Redfield-type master equations we derive. The results are shown to be stable with respect to imperfections in the preparation. Finally, we prove that the results hold also in a fully Hamiltonian model.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.98.022315

Related papers

Demonstration of Error-Suppressed Quantum Annealing Via Boundary Cancellation

Humberto Munoz-Bauza, Lorenzo Campos Venuti, Daniel A. Lidar

The boundary-cancellation theorem for open systems extends the standard quantum adiabatic theorem: assuming the gap of the Liouvillian does not vanish, the distance between a state prepared by a boundary-cancelling adiabatic protocol and the steady state of the system shrinks as a power of the number of vanishing time derivatives of the Hamiltonian at the end of the preparation. Here we generalize the boundary-cancellation theorem so that it applies also to the case where the Liouvillian gap vanishes, and consider the effect of dynamical freezing of the evolution. We experimentally test the predictions of the boundary-cancellation theorem using quantum annealing hardware, and find qualitative agreement with the predicted error suppression despite using annealing schedules that only approximate the required smooth schedules. Performance is further improved by using quantum annealing correction, and we demonstrate that the boundary-cancellation protocol is significantly more robust to parameter variations than protocols that employ pausing to enhance the probability of finding the ground state.

arXiv:2206.14269•Physical Review Applied•Mar 29, 2023•4 citations

Adiabatic preparation of many-body quantum states: getting the beginning and ending right

Emil T. M. Pedersen, Freek Witteveen, Klaus Mølmer +1 more

We present numerical calculations, and simulations performed on a Rydberg atom quantum simulator, of the adiabatic evolution of many-body quantum systems around a quantum phase transition. We demonstrate that the end-to-end transfer error, for a given process duration and dissipative losses, can be suppressed by adopting smooth initial and final scheduling functions for the Hamiltonian. We consider a one-dimensional mixed-field Ising model, as well as a chain of Rydberg atoms, and compare numerical calculations and experimental results for the end-to-end transfer error with different schedule functions. We show, in particular, that if the time dependent Hamiltonian is $n$ times differentiable with vanishing $1^{st}$ to $n^{th}$ order derivatives in the beginning and in the end, the infidelity with respect to the final adiabatic eigenstate scales as $1/T^{n+1}$ when evolving for time $T$.

quant-pharXiv:2512.17780•Dec 22, 2025•0 citations

Adiabaticity in open quantum systems

Lorenzo Campos Venuti, Tameem Albash, Daniel A. Lidar +1 more

We provide a rigorous generalization of the quantum adiabatic theorem for open systems described by a Markovian master equation with time-dependent Liouvillian $\mathcal{L}(t)$. We focus on the finite system case relevant for adiabatic quantum computing and quantum annealing. Adiabaticity is defined in terms of closeness to the instantaneous steady state. While the general result is conceptually similar to the closed-system case, there are important differences. Namely, a system initialized in the zero-eigenvalue eigenspace of $\mathcal{L}(t)$ will remain in this eigenspace with a deviation that is inversely proportional to the total evolution time $T$. In the case of a finite number of level crossings, the scaling becomes ${T}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\eta}}$ with an exponent $\ensuremath{\eta}$ that we relate to the rate of the gap closing. For master equations that describe relaxation to thermal equilibrium, we show that the evolution time $T$ should be long compared to the corresponding minimum inverse gap squared of $\mathcal{L}(t)$. Our results are illustrated with several examples.

arXiv:1508.05558•Physical Review A•Mar 14, 2016•98 citations

Adiabatic Preparation of Many-Body Quantum States: Getting the Beginning and the End Right

Anonymous, Freek Witteveen, Klaus Mølmer +1 more

We present numerical calculations, and simulations performed on a Rydberg atom quantum simulator, of the adiabatic evolution of closed many-body quantum systems around a quantum phase transition. We demonstrate that the end-to-end transfer error, for a given process duration, can be suppressed by adopting smooth initial and final scheduling functions for the Hamiltonian. We consider a one-dimensional mixed-field Ising model, as well as a chain of Rydberg atoms, and compare numerical calculations and results on a commercially available quantum computer for the end-to-end transfer error with different schedule functions. We provide a new rigorous proof under minimal regularity assumptions of the known result that if the time dependent Hamiltonian is n times differentiable with vanishing first to n th order derivatives in the beginning and in the end, the infidelity with respect to the final adiabatic eigenstate scales as 1/T^{n+1} when evolving for time T.

Physical Review Letters•Sep 2, 2026•0 citations

Threshold theorem in quantum annealing with deterministic analog control errors

Manaka Okuyama, Masayuki Ohzeki

We investigate the effect of deterministic analog control errors in the time-dependent Hamiltonian on isolated quantum dynamics. Deterministic analog control errors are formulated as time-dependent operators in the Schrodinger equation. We give an upper bound on the distance between two states in time evolution with and without deterministic analog control errors. As a result, we prove that, if the strength of deterministic analog control errors is less than the inverse of computational time, the final state in quantum dynamics without deterministic analog control errors can be obtained through a constant-order number of measurements in quantum dynamics with deterministic analog control errors.

arXiv:2301.13075•Jan 30, 2023•0 citations

Eigenstate tracking in open quantum systems

Jun Jing, M. S. Sarandy, Daniel A. Lidar +2 more

Keeping a quantum system in a given instantaneous eigenstate is a control problem with numerous applications, e.g., in quantum information processing. The problem is even more challenging in the setting of open quantum systems, where environment-mediated transitions introduce additional decoherence channels. Adiabatic passage is a well-established solution but requires a sufficiently slow evolution time that is dictated by the adiabatic theorem. Here we develop a systematic projection theory formulation for the transitionless evolution of general open quantum systems described by time-local master equations. We derive a time-convolutionless dynamical equation for the target instantaneous eigenstate of a given time-dependent Hamiltonian. A transitionless dynamics then arises in terms of a competition between the average Hamiltonian gap and the decoherence rate, which implies optimal adiabaticity timescales. We show how eigenstate tracking can be accomplished via control pulses, without explicitly incorporating counter-diabatic driving, thus offering an alternative route to accelerate adiabaticity. We examine rectangular pulses, chaotic signals, and white noise, and find that, remarkably, the effectiveness of eigenstate tracking hardly depends on the details of the control functions. In all cases the control protocol keeps the system in the desired instantaneous eigenstate throughout the entire evolution, along an accelerated adiabatic path.

arXiv:1605.07523•Physical Review A•Oct 28, 2016•31 citations
The adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics states that the error between an instantaneous eigenstate of a time-dependent Hamiltonian and the state given by quantum evolution of duration \ensuremathτ\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremathτ is upper bounded by C/\ensuremathτC/\ensuremath{\tau}C/\ensuremathτ for some positive constant CCC. It has been known for decades that this error can be reduced to Ck/\ensuremathτk+1{C}_{k}/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{k+1}Ck​/\ensuremathτk+1 if the Hamiltonian has vanishing derivatives up to order kkk at the beginning and end of the evolution. Here we extend this result to open systems described by a time-dependent Liouvillian superoperator. We find that the same results holds provided the Liouvillian has vanishing derivatives up to order kkk only at the end of the evolution. This asymmetry is ascribable to the arrow of time inherent in open system evolution. We further investigate whether it is possible to satisfy the required assumptions by controlling only the system, as required for realistic implementations. Surprisingly, we find the answer to be affirmative. We establish this rigorously in the setting of the Davies-Lindblad adiabatic master equation, and numerically in the setting of two different time-dependent Redfield-type master equations we derive. The results are shown to be stable with respect to imperfections in the preparation. Finally, we prove that the results hold also in a fully Hamiltonian model.
The boundary-cancellation theorem for open systems extends the standard quantum adiabatic theorem: assuming the gap of the Liouvillian does not vanish, the distance between a state prepared by a boundary-cancelling adiabatic protocol and the steady state of the system shrinks as a power of the number of vanishing time derivatives of the Hamiltonian at the end of the preparation. Here we generalize the boundary-cancellation theorem so that it applies also to the case where the Liouvillian gap vanishes, and consider the effect of dynamical freezing of the evolution. We experimentally test the predictions of the boundary-cancellation theorem using quantum annealing hardware, and find qualitative agreement with the predicted error suppression despite using annealing schedules that only approximate the required smooth schedules. Performance is further improved by using quantum annealing correction, and we demonstrate that the boundary-cancellation protocol is significantly more robust to parameter variations than protocols that employ pausing to enhance the probability of finding the ground state.
We present numerical calculations, and simulations performed on a Rydberg atom quantum simulator, of the adiabatic evolution of many-body quantum systems around a quantum phase transition. We demonstrate that the end-to-end transfer error, for a given process duration and dissipative losses, can be suppressed by adopting smooth initial and final scheduling functions for the Hamiltonian. We consider a one-dimensional mixed-field Ising model, as well as a chain of Rydberg atoms, and compare numerical calculations and experimental results for the end-to-end transfer error with different schedule functions. We show, in particular, that if the time dependent Hamiltonian is nnn times differentiable with vanishing 1st1^{st}1st to nthn^{th}nth order derivatives in the beginning and in the end, the infidelity with respect to the final adiabatic eigenstate scales as 1/Tn+11/T^{n+1}1/Tn+1 when evolving for time TTT.
We provide a rigorous generalization of the quantum adiabatic theorem for open systems described by a Markovian master equation with time-dependent Liouvillian L(t)\mathcal{L}(t)L(t). We focus on the finite system case relevant for adiabatic quantum computing and quantum annealing. Adiabaticity is defined in terms of closeness to the instantaneous steady state. While the general result is conceptually similar to the closed-system case, there are important differences. Namely, a system initialized in the zero-eigenvalue eigenspace of L(t)\mathcal{L}(t)L(t) will remain in this eigenspace with a deviation that is inversely proportional to the total evolution time TTT. In the case of a finite number of level crossings, the scaling becomes ${T}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\eta}}$ with an exponent $\ensuremath{\eta}$ that we relate to the rate of the gap closing. For master equations that describe relaxation to thermal equilibrium, we show that the evolution time TTT should be long compared to the corresponding minimum inverse gap squared of L(t)\mathcal{L}(t)L(t). Our results are illustrated with several examples.
We present numerical calculations, and simulations performed on a Rydberg atom quantum simulator, of the adiabatic evolution of closed many-body quantum systems around a quantum phase transition. We demonstrate that the end-to-end transfer error, for a given process duration, can be suppressed by adopting smooth initial and final scheduling functions for the Hamiltonian. We consider a one-dimensional mixed-field Ising model, as well as a chain of Rydberg atoms, and compare numerical calculations and results on a commercially available quantum computer for the end-to-end transfer error with different schedule functions. We provide a new rigorous proof under minimal regularity assumptions of the known result that if the time dependent Hamiltonian is n times differentiable with vanishing first to n th order derivatives in the beginning and in the end, the infidelity with respect to the final adiabatic eigenstate scales as 1/T^{n+1} when evolving for time T.
We investigate the effect of deterministic analog control errors in the time-dependent Hamiltonian on isolated quantum dynamics. Deterministic analog control errors are formulated as time-dependent operators in the Schrodinger equation. We give an upper bound on the distance between two states in time evolution with and without deterministic analog control errors. As a result, we prove that, if the strength of deterministic analog control errors is less than the inverse of computational time, the final state in quantum dynamics without deterministic analog control errors can be obtained through a constant-order number of measurements in quantum dynamics with deterministic analog control errors.
Keeping a quantum system in a given instantaneous eigenstate is a control problem with numerous applications, e.g., in quantum information processing. The problem is even more challenging in the setting of open quantum systems, where environment-mediated transitions introduce additional decoherence channels. Adiabatic passage is a well-established solution but requires a sufficiently slow evolution time that is dictated by the adiabatic theorem. Here we develop a systematic projection theory formulation for the transitionless evolution of general open quantum systems described by time-local master equations. We derive a time-convolutionless dynamical equation for the target instantaneous eigenstate of a given time-dependent Hamiltonian. A transitionless dynamics then arises in terms of a competition between the average Hamiltonian gap and the decoherence rate, which implies optimal adiabaticity timescales. We show how eigenstate tracking can be accomplished via control pulses, without explicitly incorporating counter-diabatic driving, thus offering an alternative route to accelerate adiabaticity. We examine rectangular pulses, chaotic signals, and white noise, and find that, remarkably, the effectiveness of eigenstate tracking hardly depends on the details of the control functions. In all cases the control protocol keeps the system in the desired instantaneous eigenstate throughout the entire evolution, along an accelerated adiabatic path.