Learning-Driven Annealing with Adaptive Hamiltonian Modification for Solving Large-Scale Problems on Quantum Devices

Quantum, vol. 9, pp. 1898

Abstract

We present Learning-Driven Annealing (LDA), a framework that links individual quantum annealing evolutions into a global solution strategy to mitigate hardware constraints such as short annealing times and integrated control errors. Unlike other iterative methods, LDA does not tune the annealing procedure (e.g. annealing time or annealing schedule), but instead learns about the problem structure to adaptively modify the problem Hamiltonian. By deforming the instantaneous energy spectrum, LDA suppresses transitions into high-energy states and focuses the evolution into low-energy regions of the Hilbert space. We demonstrate the efficacy of LDA by developing a hybrid quantum-classical solver for large-scale spin glasses. The hybrid solver is based on a comprehensive study of the internal structure of spin glasses, outperforming other quantum and classical algorithms (e.g., reverse annealing, cyclic annealing, simulated annealing, Gurobi, Toshiba's SBM, VeloxQ and D-Wave hybrid) on 5580-qubit problem instances in both runtime and lowest energy. LDA is a step towards practical quantum computation that enables today's quantum devices to compete with classical solvers.

Authors 3

1. Sebastian Schulz

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

2. Dennis Willsch Aachen Faculty of Medical Engineering and Technomathematics

   FH Aachen · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Medical Engineering and Technomathematics, University of Applied Sciences Aachen, 52428 Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

3. Kristel F. L. Michielsen Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Supercomputing Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   AIDAS, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany