Abstract We solve the one-dimensional Helmholtz equation in several scenarios using the quantum annealer provided by D-Wave systems within a pseudospectral framework, where the solution is encoded in an appropriate set of basis functions. We evaluate the performance of different encoding strategies based on algebraic conditioning and adiabatic considerations, and benchmark their performance against the classical simulated annealing algorithm. In particular, we analyze the minimum energy gap, the so-called dynamic range, and the mean squared error to assess the numerical stability, consistency, and accuracy of the solutions returned by each strategy. Our work highlights the importance of developing custom embedding techniques ensuring well-conditioned algebraic systems. In particular, we show that encoding strategies producing full-rank matrices with reduced dynamic ranges enhance the performance of the quantum annealer even under polychromatic driving and nontrivial initial conditions. We further discuss the potential of developing hybrid quantum-classical schemes designed to simultaneously satisfy algebraic conditioning and adiabatic requirements.
Abstract We solve the one-dimensional Helmholtz equation in several scenarios using the quantum annealer provided by D-Wave systems within a pseudospectral framework, where the solution is encoded in an appropriate set of basis functions. We evaluate the performance of different encoding strategies based on algebraic conditioning and adiabatic considerations, and benchmark their performance against the classical simulated annealing algorithm. In particular, we analyze the minimum energy gap, the so-called dynamic range, and the mean squared error to assess the numerical stability, consistency, and accuracy of the solutions returned by each strategy. Our work highlights the importance of developing custom embedding techniques ensuring well-conditioned algebraic systems. In particular, we show that encoding strategies producing full-rank matrices with reduced dynamic ranges enhance the performance of the quantum annealer even under polychromatic driving and nontrivial initial conditions. We further discuss the potential of developing hybrid quantum-classical schemes designed to simultaneously satisfy algebraic conditioning and adiabatic requirements.
With the increasing popularity of quantum computing and in particular quantum annealing, there has been growing research to evaluate the meta-heuristic for various problems in linear algebra: from linear least squares to matrix and tensor factorization. At the core of this effort is to evaluate quantum annealing for solving linear least squares and linear systems of equations. In this work, we focus on the viability of using quantum annealing for solving these problems. We use simulations based on the adiabatic principle to provide new insights for previously observed phenomena with the D-wave machines, such as quantum annealing being robust against ill-conditioned systems of equations and scaling quite well against the number of rows in a system. We then propose a hybrid approach which uses a quantum annealer to provide a initial guess of the solution x0, which would then be iteratively improved with classical fixed point iteration methods.
We benchmark Quantum Annealing (QA) vs. Simulated Annealing (SA) with a focus on the impact of the embedding of problems onto the different topologies of the D-Wave quantum annealers. The series of problems we study are especially designed instances of the maximum cardinality matching problem that are easy to solve classically but difficult for SA and, as found experimentally, not easy for QA either. In addition to using several D-Wave processors, we simulate the QA process by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We find that the embedded problems can be significantly more difficult than the unembedded problems, and some parameters, such as the chain strength, can be very impactful for finding the optimal solution. Thus, finding a good embedding and optimal parameter values can improve the results considerably. Interestingly, we find that although SA succeeds for the unembedded problems, the SA results obtained for the embedded version scale quite poorly in comparison with what we can achieve on the D-Wave quantum annealers.
The numerical solution of partial differential equations by discretization techniques is ubiquitous in computational physics. In this work we investigate this approach in the quantum realm by solving the heat equation for a square plate subject to fixed temperatures at the edges and random heat sources and sinks within the domain. The hybrid classical-quantum approach consists of the solution on a quantum computer of the coupled linear system of equations that results from the discretization step. Owing to the limitations on the number of qubits and their connectivity, we use the Gauss-Seidel method to divide the full system of linear equations into subsystems, which are solved iteratively in block fashion. Each of the linear subsystems was solved using 2000Q and Advantage quantum computers developed by D-Wave Systems Inc. By comparing classical numerical and quantum solutions, we observe that the errors and chain break fraction are, on average, greater on the 2000Q system. Unlike in the classical Gauss-Seidel method, the errors of the quantum solutions level off after a few iterations of our algorithm. This is partly a result of the span of the real-number line available from the mapping of the chosen size of the set of qubit states. We verified this by using techniques to progressively shrink the range mapped by the set of qubit states at each iteration (increasing floating-point accuracy). As a result, no leveling off is observed. However, an increase in qubits does not translate to an overall lower error. This is believed to be indicative of the increasing length of chains required for the mapping to real numbers and the ensuing limitations of hardware.
In this thesis, we focus on the problem of validating and benchmarking quantum annealers. To this end, we propose two algorithms for solving real-world problems and test how they perform on the current generation of quantum annealers. The first algorithm allows for solving the dynamics of quantum systems (or, in fact, any dynamical systems). The second of the proposed algorithms is suitable for solving a particular family of railway dispatching problems. We assess the performance of those algorithms on the current generation of D-Wave quantum annealers with the assistance of two novel, classical strategies for solving an Ising model also presented in the thesis. The first, tensor network-based approach is a heuristic algorithm tailored for solving instances defined on Chimera-like graphs, thus making it ideal for providing a baseline with which the results from physical annealers can be compared. The other presented approach is a massively parallel implementation of the exhaustive (brute-force) search through the whole solution space. Although the brute-force approach is limited to moderate instance sizes, it has the advantage of being able to compute the low energy spectrum and certify the solutions. Our results suggest that present-day quantum annealers are able to solve a subset of the aforementioned problems. In particular, we show that the D-Wave annealers are capable of capturing the dynamics of a simple quantum system in a specific regime of parameters, and can be used to obtain good-quality solutions for instances of railway conflict management problems. Finally, our findings indicate that the current generation of D-Wave annealers is far from perfect. We discuss problem instances for which the annealers failed to find a good or even feasible solution. We also provide, where possible, a plausible explanation of why some of the presented problems might be hard for the annealers.
Quantum computing has emerged as a promising computational paradigm with the potential to solve problems that are intractable for classical computers. This paper provides an overview of the current state of quantum computing, including its historical development, hardware advancements, applications, and challenges. Special attention is given to combinatorial optimization, which is considered one of the most promising application domains. The limitations of current quantum systems and future research directions are also discussed. This paper presents a comparative study between a conventional D-Wave-based simulated annealing approach and a proposed hybrid optimization model for solving largescale combinatorial optimization problems. The study focuses on benchmark problems, including AES, TSP gr24, and a real-world load balancing problem, all formulated as QUBO models. The D-Wave approach employs the dwave-neal simulated annealing engine with various parameter settings, while the proposed model introduces a decomposition-based framework combined with adaptive parameter control and iterative refinement. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model consistently outperforms the conventional approach in terms of solution quality, achieving significantly lower energy values across all problem instances. In particular, for the TSP gr24 problem, the proposed model achieves near-optimal solutions with substantially reduced computation time. For large-scale problems such as AES and load balancing, the proposed model maintains scalability and robustness, whereas the conventional approach suffers from increased computational cost and performance degradation. Although the proposed method introduces additional computational steps, its hybrid structure effectively mitigates limitations related to local minima, parameter sensitivity, and scalability. These findings indicate that integrating classical optimization techniques with quantum-inspired methods is essential for practical applications. The proposed model provides a promising framework for solving complex real-world optimization problems and highlights the importance of hybrid approaches in advancing quantum annealing technologies.
Quantum computers and algorithms are undergoing rapid development, offering promising solutions to complex computational problems. This study focuses on harnessing the potential of quantum annealing to address the challenging phase unwrapping problem. Specifically, we employed D-Wave’s quantum annealers, currently among the most powerful in existence. To effectively utilize these systems, it is crucial to embed the problem onto their underlying structure, the Pegasus graph in the case of the D-Wave Advantage system. A shorter chain-length in the embedding process generally correlates with improved results. In the course of this thesis, we devised an algorithm for efficiently embedding the phase unwrapping problem onto the D-Wave Advantage system. Our approach yielded promising results when compared to D-Wave’s automatic embeddings. Notably, our introduced embedding boasts the minimum chain-length and utilizes the native structure of the target graph. Additionally, we leveraged D-Wave’s hybrid workflow, combining classical and quantum computing capabilities, to tackle larger image problems. Refinements to the hybrid method were implemented, resulting in enhanced performance. Experimental evaluations were conducted on actual quantum annealers, demonstrating that our refined algorithms outperform those provided by D-Wave.