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arXiv:2510.12237 · Nature Communications

Digital adiabatic evolution is universally accurate

Yangyu Lu, Yifei Huang, Dong An, Qi Zhao, Dingshun Lv, Xiao Yuan

Published May 21, 2026• 1 citation

Abstract

Adiabatic evolution is a central paradigm in quantum physics. Digital simulations of adiabatic processes are generally regarded as resource-intensive, not only because of the long evolution time required, but also because algorithmic errors typically accumulate throughout the evolution, thereby demanding exceptionally deep circuits to preserve accuracy. This work demonstrates that digital adiabatic evolution is intrinsically accurate and robust to simulation errors. We analyze two Hamiltonian simulation methods—Trotterization and generalized quantum signal processing—and prove that the simulation error does not increase with time. We further show that accurate time-dependent adiabatic evolution can be achieved using only time-independent Hamiltonian-simulation algorithms. Numerical simulations of the adiabatic algorithms for molecular systems and linear equations confirm the theory, revealing that digital adiabatic evolution is substantially more efficient than previously assumed. Remarkably, our estimation for the first-order Trotterization error can be 106 times tighter than previous analyses for the transverse field Ising model even with less than 6 qubits. The findings establish fundamental robustness of digital adiabatic evolution and provide a basis for accurate, efficient implementations on fault-tolerant-and potentially near-term–quantum platforms. In this study, the authors show that digital adiabatic evolution is highly robust to simulation errors. Rather than accumulating, these errors self-cancel and even decrease over time, enabling highly efficient algorithms on near-term and future quantum computers.

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-73249-z

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The simulation of adiabatic evolution has deep connections with adiabatic quantum computation, the quantum approximate optimization algorithm, and adiabatic state preparation. Here we address the error analysis problem in quantum simulation of adiabatic process using Trotter formulas. We show that with additional conditions, the circuit depth can be linear in simulation time

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