The quantum annealing gap and dynamical quantum phase transitions in complex optimization problems

Quenching and annealing are extreme opposites in the time evolution of a quantum system: Annealing explores equilibrium phases of a Hamiltonian with slowly changing parameters and can be exploited as a tool for solving complex optimization problems. In contrast, quenches are sudden changes of the Hamiltonian, producing a non-equilibrium situation. Here, we investigate the relation between the two cases. Specifically, we show that the minimum of the annealing gap, which is an important bottleneck of quantum annealing algorithms, can be revealed from a dynamical quench parameter which describes the dynamical quantum state after the quench. Combined with statistical tools including the training of a neural network, the relation between quench and annealing dynamics can be exploited to reproduce the full functional behavior of the annealing gap from the quench data. We show that the partial or full knowledge about the annealing gap which can be gained in this way can be used to design optimized quantum annealing protocols with a practical time-to-solution benefit. Our results are obtained from simulating random Ising Hamiltonians, representing hard-to-solve instances of the exact cover problem.Quenching and annealing are extreme opposites in the time evolution of a quantum system: Annealing explores equilibrium phases of a Hamiltonian with slowly changing parameters and can be exploited as a tool for solving complex optimization problems. In contrast, quenches are sudden changes of the Hamiltonian, producing a non-equilibrium situation. Here, we investigate the relation between the two cases. Specifically, we show that the minimum of the annealing gap, which is an important bottleneck of quantum annealing algorithms, can be revealed from a dynamical quench parameter which describes the dynamical quantum state after the quench. Combined with statistical tools including the training of a neural network, the relation between quench and annealing dynamics can be exploited to reproduce the full functional behavior of the annealing gap from the quench data. We show that the partial or full knowledge about the annealing gap which can be gained in this way can be used to design optimized quantum annealing protocols with a practical time-to-solution benefit. Our results are obtained from simulating random Ising Hamiltonians, representing hard-to-solve instances of the exact cover problem.

arXiv:2106.08101QuantumJan 18, 20227 citations

Optimization by quantum annealing: Lessons from hard satisfiability problems

Demian A. Battaglia, Giuseppe E. Santoro, Erio Tosatti

The path integral Monte Carlo simulated quantum annealing algorithm is applied to the optimization of a large hard instance of the random satisfiability problem (N = 10,000). The dynamical behavior of the quantum and the classical annealing are compared, showing important qualitative differences in the way of exploring the complex energy landscape of the combinatorial optimization problem. At variance with the results obtained for the Ising spin glass and for the traveling salesman problem, in the present case the linear-schedule quantum annealing performance is definitely worse than classical annealing. Nevertheless, a quantum cooling protocol based on field-cycling and able to outperform standard classical simulated annealing over short time scales is introduced.The path integral Monte Carlo simulated quantum annealing algorithm is applied to the optimization of a large hard instance of the random satisfiability problem (N = 10,000). The dynamical behavior of the quantum and the classical annealing are compared, showing important qualitative differences in the way of exploring the complex energy landscape of the combinatorial optimization problem. At variance with the results obtained for the Ising spin glass and for the traveling salesman problem, in the present case the linear-schedule quantum annealing performance is definitely worse than classical annealing. Nevertheless, a quantum cooling protocol based on field-cycling and able to outperform standard classical simulated annealing over short time scales is introduced.

arXiv:cond-mat/0502468Physical Review EJun 29, 2005107 citations

Quantum Annealing-Based Combinatorial Optimization Algorithm

Jincheng Zhang

This paper investigates the application of quantum annealing for solving complex combinatorial optimization problems. The core claim is that quantum annealing leverages its global search capabilities to efficiently address such problems. The proposed mechanism involves formulating the combinatorial optimization problem as a quantum annealing problem and utilizing the simulated annealing process within quantum annealing to conduct a search for the optimal solution. This research explores the potential of quantum annealing in practical applications, acknowledging that its application in combinatorial optimization is still in its exploratory phase. The algorithm is designed to minimize the energy of a system described by a Hamiltonian, which evolves over time according to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The core of the algorithm lies in mapping the problem's constraints and objective function into this Hamiltonian. The search process is governed by quantum fluctuations, represented by the operator $\hat{H}$ , which encourages transitions to lower energy states, effectively navigating the solution space. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated based on the quality of the solution found and the computational resources required. This work provides a foundational exploration of quantum annealing's potential within the field of combinatorial optimization.This paper investigates the application of quantum annealing for solving complex combinatorial optimization problems. The core claim is that quantum annealing leverages its global search capabilities to efficiently address such problems. The proposed mechanism involves formulating the combinatorial optimization problem as a quantum annealing problem and utilizing the simulated annealing process within quantum annealing to conduct a search for the optimal solution. This research explores the potential of quantum annealing in practical applications, acknowledging that its application in combinatorial optimization is still in its exploratory phase. The algorithm is designed to minimize the energy of a system described by a Hamiltonian, which evolves over time according to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. The core of the algorithm lies in mapping the problem's constraints and objective function into this Hamiltonian. The search process is governed by quantum fluctuations, represented by the operator $\hat{H}$, which encourages transitions to lower energy states, effectively navigating the solution space. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated based on the quality of the solution found and the computational resources required. This work provides a foundational exploration of quantum annealing's potential within the field of combinatorial optimization.

Sep 3, 20260 citations

Improving the efficiency of quantum annealing with controlled diagonal catalysts

T Hattori, Shu Tanaka

Quantum annealing is a promising algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems. It searches for the ground state of the Ising model, which corresponds to the optimal solution of a given combinatorial optimization problem. The guiding principle of quantum annealing is the adiabatic theorem in quantum mechanics, which guarantees that a system remains in the ground state of its Hamiltonian if the time evolution is sufficiently slow. According to the adiabatic theorem, the annealing time required for quantum annealing to satisfy the adiabaticity scales inversely proportional to the square of the minimum energy gap between the ground state and the first excited state during time evolution. As a result, finding the ground state becomes significantly more difficult when the energy gap is small, creating a major bottleneck in quantum annealing. Expanding the energy gap is one strategy for improving the performance of quantum annealing; however, its implementation in actual hardware remains difficult. This study proposes a method for efficiently solving instances with small energy gaps by introducing additional local terms to the Hamiltonian and exploiting the diabatic transition remaining in the small energy gap. The proposed method achieves an approximate quadratic speedup of the exponential scaling exponent in time to solution compared to the conventional quantum annealing. In addition, we investigate the transferability of the parameters obtained with the proposed method.Quantum annealing is a promising algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems. It searches for the ground state of the Ising model, which corresponds to the optimal solution of a given combinatorial optimization problem. The guiding principle of quantum annealing is the adiabatic theorem in quantum mechanics, which guarantees that a system remains in the ground state of its Hamiltonian if the time evolution is sufficiently slow. According to the adiabatic theorem, the annealing time required for quantum annealing to satisfy the adiabaticity scales inversely proportional to the square of the minimum energy gap between the ground state and the first excited state during time evolution. As a result, finding the ground state becomes significantly more difficult when the energy gap is small, creating a major bottleneck in quantum annealing. Expanding the energy gap is one strategy for improving the performance of quantum annealing; however, its implementation in actual hardware remains difficult. This study proposes a method for efficiently solving instances with small energy gaps by introducing additional local terms to the Hamiltonian and exploiting the diabatic transition remaining in the small energy gap. The proposed method achieves an approximate quadratic speedup of the exponential scaling exponent in time to solution compared to the conventional quantum annealing. In addition, we investigate the transferability of the parameters obtained with the proposed method.

arXiv:2503.15244Physical Review AFeb 3, 20263 citations

Quantum walk in a reinforced free-energy landscape: Quantum annealing with reinforcement

Abolfazl Ramezanpour

Providing an optimal path to a quantum annealing algorithm is key to finding good approximate solutions to computationally hard optimization problems. Reinforcement is one of the strategies that can be used to circumvent the exponentially small energy gaps of the system in the annealing process. Here a time-dependent reinforcement term is added to the Hamiltonian in order to give lower energies to the most probable states of the evolving system. In this study, we take local entropy in the configuration space for the reinforcement and apply the algorithm to a number of easy and hard optimization problems. The reinforced algorithm performs better than the standard quantum annealing algorithm in the quantum search problem, where the optimal parameters behave very differently depending on the number of solutions. Moreover, the reinforcements can change the discontinuous phase transitions of the mean-field $p$ -spin model ( $p>2$ ) to a continuous transition. The algorithm's performance in the binary perceptron problem is also superior to that of the standard quantum annealing algorithm, which already works better than a classical simulated annealing algorithm.Providing an optimal path to a quantum annealing algorithm is key to finding good approximate solutions to computationally hard optimization problems. Reinforcement is one of the strategies that can be used to circumvent the exponentially small energy gaps of the system in the annealing process. Here a time-dependent reinforcement term is added to the Hamiltonian in order to give lower energies to the most probable states of the evolving system. In this study, we take local entropy in the configuration space for the reinforcement and apply the algorithm to a number of easy and hard optimization problems. The reinforced algorithm performs better than the standard quantum annealing algorithm in the quantum search problem, where the optimal parameters behave very differently depending on the number of solutions. Moreover, the reinforcements can change the discontinuous phase transitions of the mean-field $p$-spin model ($p>2$) to a continuous transition. The algorithm's performance in the binary perceptron problem is also superior to that of the standard quantum annealing algorithm, which already works better than a classical simulated annealing algorithm.

arXiv:2202.10908Physical Review AJul 14, 20223 citations

Computational Bottlenecks of Quantum Annealing

Sergey Knysh

A promising approach to solving hard binary optimisation problems is quantum adiabatic annealing (QA) in a transverse magnetic field. An instantaneous ground state --- initially a symmetric superposition of all possible assignments of $N$ qubits --- is closely tracked as it becomes more and more localised near the global minimum of the classical energy. Regions where the energy gap to excited states is small (e.g. at the phase transition) are the algorithm's bottlenecks. Here I show how for large problems the complexity becomes dominated by $O(\log N)$ bottlenecks inside the spin glass phase, where the gap scales as a stretched exponential. For smaller $N$ , only the gap at the critical point is relevant, where it scales polynomially, as long as the phase transition is second order. This phenomenon is demonstrated rigorously for the two-pattern Gaussian Hopfield Model. Qualitative comparison with the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Model leads to similar conclusions.A promising approach to solving hard binary optimisation problems is quantum adiabatic annealing (QA) in a transverse magnetic field. An instantaneous ground state --- initially a symmetric superposition of all possible assignments of $N$ qubits --- is closely tracked as it becomes more and more localised near the global minimum of the classical energy. Regions where the energy gap to excited states is small (e.g. at the phase transition) are the algorithm's bottlenecks. Here I show how for large problems the complexity becomes dominated by $O(\log N)$ bottlenecks inside the spin glass phase, where the gap scales as a stretched exponential. For smaller $N$, only the gap at the critical point is relevant, where it scales polynomially, as long as the phase transition is second order. This phenomenon is demonstrated rigorously for the two-pattern Gaussian Hopfield Model. Qualitative comparison with the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Model leads to similar conclusions.

arXiv:1506.08608Jun 29, 20153 citations

\hat{H}

, which encourages transitions to lower energy states, effectively navigating the solution space. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated based on the quality of the solution found and the computational resources required. This work provides a foundational exploration of quantum annealing's potential within the field of combinatorial optimization.

p

-spin model (

p>2

) to a continuous transition. The algorithm's performance in the binary perceptron problem is also superior to that of the standard quantum annealing algorithm, which already works better than a classical simulated annealing algorithm.

N

qubits --- is closely tracked as it becomes more and more localised near the global minimum of the classical energy. Regions where the energy gap to excited states is small (e.g. at the phase transition) are the algorithm's bottlenecks. Here I show how for large problems the complexity becomes dominated by

O(\log N)

bottlenecks inside the spin glass phase, where the gap scales as a stretched exponential. For smaller

N

, only the gap at the critical point is relevant, where it scales polynomially, as long as the phase transition is second order. This phenomenon is demonstrated rigorously for the two-pattern Gaussian Hopfield Model. Qualitative comparison with the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Model leads to similar conclusions.