Inhomogeneous quantum annealing (IQA), in which transverse fields are turned off one by one rather than simultaneously, has been proposed as an effective way to avoid the first-order phase transitions that impede conventional quantum annealing (QA). Here we explicitly study the dynamics of IQA, rather than merely the thermodynamics, and find that it is appreciably slower than the phase diagram would suggest. Interestingly, this slowdown manifests both when IQA succeeds in circumventing phase transitions and when it fails. Even in the absence of transitions, such as for the mean-field models that have been analyzed previously, IQA is slower than expected by a factor of the number of spins $N$ . More significantly, we show that in non-mean-field models, first-order transitions are likely to be quite common, and the gap at such transitions is not merely exponential in $N$ but exactly zero. Thus IQA cannot reach the ground state on any timescale. Both of these results can be understood through the simple observation that a spin's magnetization becomes conserved once its field is turned off during the IQA protocol.Inhomogeneous quantum annealing (IQA), in which transverse fields are turned off one by one rather than simultaneously, has been proposed as an effective way to avoid the first-order phase transitions that impede conventional quantum annealing (QA). Here we explicitly study the dynamics of IQA, rather than merely the thermodynamics, and find that it is appreciably slower than the phase diagram would suggest. Interestingly, this slowdown manifests both when IQA succeeds in circumventing phase transitions and when it fails. Even in the absence of transitions, such as for the mean-field models that have been analyzed previously, IQA is slower than expected by a factor of the number of spins $N$. More significantly, we show that in non-mean-field models, first-order transitions are likely to be quite common, and the gap at such transitions is not merely exponential in $N$ but exactly zero. Thus IQA cannot reach the ground state on any timescale. Both of these results can be understood through the simple observation that a spin's magnetization becomes conserved once its field is turned off during the IQA protocol.

arXiv:2502.03535Physical Review AJun 2, 20251 citation

Relation of classical non-equilibrium dynamics and quantum annealing

秀稔西森, Hidetoshi Nishimori

Jan 1, 20150 citations

Analytic study of quantum annealing

悟史森田

Jan 1, 20081 citation

Thermodynamic formalism and anomalous transport in 1D semiclassical Bose-Hubbard chain

Dragan Marković, Mihailo Čubrović

Abstract We analyze the time-dependent free energy functionals of the semiclassical one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard chain. We first review the weakly chaotic dynamics and the consequent early-time anomalous diffusion in the system. The anomalous diffusion is robust, appears with strictly quantized coefficients, and persists even for very long chains (more than hundred sites), crossing over to normal diffusion at late times. We identify fast (angle) and slow (action) variables and thus consider annealed and quenched partition functions, corresponding to fixing the actions and integrating over the actions, respectively. We observe the leading quantum effects in the annealed free energy, whereas the quenched energy is undefined in the thermodynamic limit, signaling the absence of thermodynamic equilibrium in the quenched regime. But already the leading correction away from the quenched regime reproduces the annealed partition function exactly. This encapsulates the fact that in both slow- and fast-chaos regime both the anomalous and the normal diffusion can be seen (though at different times).Abstract We analyze the time-dependent free energy functionals of the semiclassical one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard chain. We first review the weakly chaotic dynamics and the consequent early-time anomalous diffusion in the system. The anomalous diffusion is robust, appears with strictly quantized coefficients, and persists even for very long chains (more than hundred sites), crossing over to normal diffusion at late times. We identify fast (angle) and slow (action) variables and thus consider annealed and quenched partition functions, corresponding to fixing the actions and integrating over the actions, respectively. We observe the leading quantum effects in the annealed free energy, whereas the quenched energy is undefined in the thermodynamic limit, signaling the absence of thermodynamic equilibrium in the quenched regime. But already the leading correction away from the quenched regime reproduces the annealed partition function exactly. This encapsulates the fact that in both slow- and fast-chaos regime both the anomalous and the normal diffusion can be seen (though at different times).

arXiv:2312.17008Jan 1, 20240 citations

Direct comparison of quantum and simulated annealing on a fully connected Ising ferromagnet

Matteo M. Wauters, Rosario Fazio, Hidetoshi Nishimori +1 more

We compare the performance of quantum annealing (QA, through Schr\"odinger dynamics) and simulated annealing (SA, through a classical master equation) on the $p$ -spin infinite range ferromagnetic Ising model, by slowly driving the system across its equilibrium, quantum or classical, phase transition. When the phase transition is second order ( $p=2$ , the familiar two-spin Ising interaction) SA shows a remarkable exponential speed-up over QA. For a first-order phase transition ($p\ensuremath{\ge}3$, i.e., with multispin Ising interactions), in contrast, the classical annealing dynamics appears to remain stuck in the disordered phase, while we have clear evidence that QA shows a residual energy which decreases towards zero when the total annealing time $\ensuremath{\tau}$ increases, albeit in a rather slow (logarithmic) fashion. This is one of the rare examples where a limited quantum speedup, a speedup by QA over SA, has been shown to exist by direct solutions of the Schr\"odinger and master equations in combination with a nonequilibrium Landau-Zener analysis. We also analyze the imaginary-time QA dynamics of the model, finding a $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{2}$ behavior for all finite values of $p$ , as predicted by the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics. The Grover-search limit $p(\mathrm{odd})=\ensuremath{\infty}$ is also discussed.We compare the performance of quantum annealing (QA, through Schr\"odinger dynamics) and simulated annealing (SA, through a classical master equation) on the $p$-spin infinite range ferromagnetic Ising model, by slowly driving the system across its equilibrium, quantum or classical, phase transition. When the phase transition is second order ($p=2$, the familiar two-spin Ising interaction) SA shows a remarkable exponential speed-up over QA. For a first-order phase transition ($p\ensuremath{\ge}3$, i.e., with multispin Ising interactions), in contrast, the classical annealing dynamics appears to remain stuck in the disordered phase, while we have clear evidence that QA shows a residual energy which decreases towards zero when the total annealing time $\ensuremath{\tau}$ increases, albeit in a rather slow (logarithmic) fashion. This is one of the rare examples where a limited quantum speedup, a speedup by QA over SA, has been shown to exist by direct solutions of the Schr\"odinger and master equations in combination with a nonequilibrium Landau-Zener analysis. We also analyze the imaginary-time QA dynamics of the model, finding a $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{2}$ behavior for all finite values of $p$, as predicted by the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics. The Grover-search limit $p(\mathrm{odd})=\ensuremath{\infty}$ is also discussed.

arXiv:1707.02621Physical Review AAug 29, 201728 citations

N

. More significantly, we show that in non-mean-field models, first-order transitions are likely to be quite common, and the gap at such transitions is not merely exponential in

N

but exactly zero. Thus IQA cannot reach the ground state on any timescale. Both of these results can be understood through the simple observation that a spin's magnetization becomes conserved once its field is turned off during the IQA protocol.

We compare the performance of quantum annealing (QA, through Schr\"odinger dynamics) and simulated annealing (SA, through a classical master equation) on the

p

-spin infinite range ferromagnetic Ising model, by slowly driving the system across its equilibrium, quantum or classical, phase transition. When the phase transition is second order (

p=2

, the familiar two-spin Ising interaction) SA shows a remarkable exponential speed-up over QA. For a first-order phase transition ($p\ensuremath{\ge}3$, i.e., with multispin Ising interactions), in contrast, the classical annealing dynamics appears to remain stuck in the disordered phase, while we have clear evidence that QA shows a residual energy which decreases towards zero when the total annealing time $\ensuremath{\tau}$ increases, albeit in a rather slow (logarithmic) fashion. This is one of the rare examples where a limited quantum speedup, a speedup by QA over SA, has been shown to exist by direct solutions of the Schr\"odinger and master equations in combination with a nonequilibrium Landau-Zener analysis. We also analyze the imaginary-time QA dynamics of the model, finding a $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{2}$ behavior for all finite values of

p

, as predicted by the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics. The Grover-search limit $p(\mathrm{odd})=\ensuremath{\infty}$ is also discussed.