An Overview of Approaches to Modernize Quantum Annealing Using Local Searches

Nicholas Chancellor
(Durham University)

I describe how real quantum annealers may be used to perform local (in state space) searches around specified states, rather than the global searches traditionally implemented in the quantum annealing algorithm. The quantum annealing algorithm is an analogue of simulated annealing, a classical numerical technique which is now obsolete. Hence, I explore strategies to use an annealer in a way which takes advantage of modern classical optimization algorithms, and additionally should be less sensitive to problem mis-specification then the traditional quantum annealing algorithm.

In Alastair A. Abbott and Dominic C. Horsman: Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Physics and Computation (PC 2016), Manchester, UK, 14 July 2016, Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science 214, pp. 16–21.
An extended version of this contribution will appear on arXiv soon which will describe more detailed algorithms, comment more on robustness to problem mis-specification, comment on thermal sampling applications, and discuss applications on real devices.
Published: 21st June 2016.

ArXived at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.214.4 bibtex PDF
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