Nonequilibrium work performed in quantum annealing

G. Aeppli, T. F. Rosenbaum

Masayuki Ohzeki, Hidetoshi Nishimori

Quantum annealing is a generic solver of classical optimization problems that makes full use of quantum fluctuations. We consider work statistics given by a repetition of quantum annealing processes by employing the Jarzynski equality proposed in nonequilibrium statistical physics. In particular, we analyze a nonequilibrium average of the exponentiated work performed by a transverse field. A special symmetry, gauge symmetry, leads to a non-trivial relationship between quantum annealing toward different targets in the theory of spin glasses. We believe that our results will be a step toward an alternative realization of efficient quantum computation as well as our better understanding of nonequilibrium behavior of systems under quantum control.

Ohzeki, M., 西森秀稔, Hidetoshi Nishimori

Quantum annealing is a generic solver of classical optimization problems that makes full use of quantum fluctuations. We consider work statistics given by a repetition of quantum annealing processes by employing the Jarzynski equality proposed in nonequilibrium statistical physics. In particular, we analyze the distribution of the work performed by a transverse field. A special symmetry, gauge symmetry, leads to a non-trivial relationship between quantum annealing toward different targets in the theory of spin glasses. We believe that our results will be a step toward an alternative realization of efficient quantum computation as well as our better understanding of nonequilibrium behavior of systems under quantum control.

Wade DeGottardi, David Ferguson, С. А. Новиков +2 more

Masayuki Ohzeki, Hidetoshi Nishimori

Quantum annealing is a generic algorithm using quantum-mechanical fluctuations to search for the solution of an optimization problem. The present paper first reviews the fundamentals of quantum annealing and then reports on preliminary results for an alternative method. The review part includes the relationship of quantum annealing with classical simulated annealing. We next propose a novel quantum algorithm which might be available for hard optimization problems by using a classical-quantum mapping as well as the Jarzynski equality introduced in nonequilibrium statistical physics.

Sei Suzuki