Hybrid quantum annealing via molecular dynamics

A novel quantum-classical hybrid scheme is proposed to efficiently solve large-scale combinatorial optimization problems. The key concept is to introduce a Hamiltonian dynamics of the classical flux variables associated with the quantum spins of the transverse-field Ising model. Molecular dynamics of the classical fluxes can be used as a powerful preconditioner to sort out the frozen and ambivalent spins for quantum annealers. The performance and accuracy of our smooth hybridization in comparison to the standard classical algorithms (the tabu search and the simulated annealing) are demonstrated by employing the MAX-CUT and Ising spin-glass problems.

Automated summary

A novel quantum-classical hybrid scheme is proposed to efficiently tackle large-scale combinatorial optimization problems by introducing Hamiltonian dynamics of classical flux variables associated with quantum spins. Classical flux molecular dynamics can effectively sort out frozen and ambivalent spins for quantum annealers, demonstrating superior performance compared to standard classical algorithms like tabu search and simulated annealing in MAX-CUT and Ising spin-glass problems.