Solving Helmholtz problems using finite elements leads to the resolution of a linear system which is challenging to solve for classical computers. In this paper, we investigate how quantum annealers could address this challenge. We first express the linear system arising from the Helmholtz problem as a generalized eigenvalue problem (gEVP). The obtained gEVP is mapped into quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems (QUBOs) which we solve using an adaptive quantum annealing eigensolver (AQAE) and its classical equivalent. We identify two key parameters in the success of AQAE for solving Helmholtz problems: the system condition number and the integrated control errors (ICE) in the quantum hardware. Our results show that a large system condition number implies a finer discretization grid for AQAE to converge, leading to a variable overhead, and that AQAE is either tolerant or not with respect to ICE depending on the gEVP. Finally, we establish lower bounds on the annealing time, narrowing the possibility of a quantum advantage for solving Helmholtz problems.
Solving Helmholtz problems using finite elements leads to the resolution of a linear system which is challenging to solve for classical computers. In this paper, we investigate how quantum annealers could address this challenge. We first express the linear system arising from the Helmholtz problem as a generalized eigenvalue problem (gEVP). The obtained gEVP is mapped into quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems (QUBOs) which we solve using an adaptive quantum annealing eigensolver (AQAE) and its classical equivalent. We identify two key parameters in the success of AQAE for solving Helmholtz problems: the system condition number and the integrated control errors (ICE) in the quantum hardware. Our results show that a large system condition number implies a finer discretization grid for AQAE to converge, leading to a variable overhead, and that AQAE is either tolerant or not with respect to ICE depending on the gEVP. Finally, we establish lower bounds on the annealing time, narrowing the possibility of a quantum advantage for solving Helmholtz problems.
Discretizing Helmholtz problems via finite elements yields linear systems whose efficient solution remains a major challenge for classical computation. In this paper, we investigate how variational quantum algorithms could address this challenge. We first show that, for regular meshes, a block encoding of the operators A and A†A arising from the high-order finite element discretisation of Helmholtz problems can be designed, resulting in a quantum circuit of depth O(p3polylog(Np)) with N the number of elements and p the order of the finite elements. Then we apply our algorithm to a one-dimensional Helmholtz problem with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions for various wavenumbers.
The quantum annealing devices, which encode the solution to a computational problem in the ground state of a quantum Hamiltonian, are implemented in D-Wave systems with more than 2,000 qubits. However, quantum annealing can solve only a classical combinatorial optimization problem such as an Ising model, or equivalently, a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problem. In this paper, we formulate the QUBO model to solve elliptic problems with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions using the finite element method. In this formulation, we develop the objective function of quadratic binary variables represented by qubits and the system finds the binary string combination minimizing the objective function globally. Based on the QUBO formulation, we introduce an iterative algorithm to solve the elliptic problems. We discuss the validation of the modeling on the D-Wave quantum annealing system.
Abstract We investigate the possibility and current limitations of flow computations using quantum annealers by solving a fundamental flow problem on Ising machines. As a fundamental problem, we consider the one-dimensional advection–diffusion equation. We formulate it in a form suited to Ising machines (i.e. both classical and quantum annealers), perform extensive numerical tests on a classical annealer, and finally test it on an actual quantum annealer. To make it possible to process with an Ising machine, the problem is formulated as a minimization problem of the residual of the governing equation discretized using either the spectral method or the finite difference method. The resulting system equation is then converted to the quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) form through the quantization of variables. It is found in numerical tests using a classical annealer that the spectral method requiring a smaller number of variables has a particular merit over the finite difference method because the accuracy deteriorates with the increase of the number of variables. We also found that the computational error varies depending on the condition number of the coefficient matrix. In addition, we extended it to a two-dimensional problem and confirmed its fundamental applicability. From the numerical test using a quantum annealer, however, it turns out that the computation using a quantum annealer is still challenging due largely to the structural difference from the classical annealer, which leaves a number of issues toward its practical use.
The homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation (hBSE), describing a bound system in a genuinely relativistic quantum-field theory framework, was solved for the first time by using a D-Wave quantum annealer. After applying standard techniques of discretization, the hBSE, in ladder approximation, can be formally transformed in a generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP), with two square matrices: one symmetric and the other nonsymmetric. The latter matrix poses the challenge of obtaining a suitable formal approach for investigating the GEVP by means of a quantum annealer, i.e., to recast it as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problem. A broad numerical analysis of the proposed algorithms, applied to matrices of dimension up to 64, was carried out by using both the simulated-annealing package and the D-Wave . The numerical results very nicely compare with those obtained with standard classical algorithms, and also show interesting scalability features. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
To date, conventional computers have never been able to efficiently handle certain tasks, where the number of computation steps is likely to blow up as the problem size increases. As an emerging technology and new computing paradigm, quantum computing has a great potential to tackle those hard tasks efficiently. Among all the existing quantum computation models, quantum annealing has drawn significant attention in recent years due to the realization of the commercialized quantum annealer, sparking research interests in developing applications to solve problems that are intractable for classical computers.However, designing and implementing algorithms that manage to harness the enormous computation power from quantum annealer remains a challenging task. Generally, it requires mapping of the given optimization problem into quadratic unconstrained binary optimization(QUBO) problem and embedding the subsequent QUBO onto the physical architecture of quantum annealer. Additionally, practical quantum annealers are susceptible to errors leading to low probability of the correct solution.In this study, we focus on solving Boolean satisfiability (SAT) problem using quantum annealer while addressing practical limitations. We have proposed a mapping technique that maps SAT problem to QUBO, and we have further devised a tool flow that embeds the QUBO onto the architecture of a quantum annealing device. Additionally, We have optimized the proposed embedding flow to reduce run-time in addition to shortening the qubit chain length, leading to robust quantum annealing. To further improve the reliability of quantum annealing, we have also developed a post processing embedding technique that enlarges the energy gap between ground state and the first excited state. To demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed methods, we have conducted experiments on real quantum annealing devices manufactured by D-Wave Systems, showing compelling result of using quantum annealer to solve SAT problem.
Within the Equation of Motion Phonon Method (EMPM) framework, we address the computation of the ground-state eigenpair of nuclear Hamiltonians by reformulating the eigenvalue problem as a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO). To this end, we adopt a QUBO-based iterative steepest-descent algorithm and validate its performance using Simulated Annealing, demonstrating its feasibility for nuclear many-body calculations. This work represents a first step toward implementations on quantum annealers and extensions to the full eigenspectrum.