IQIM Postdoctoral and Graduate Student Seminar

Abstract: More than two decades ago, experiments on disordered alloys suggested that spin glasses can reach low-energy states more rapidly through annealing quantum fluctuations than conventional thermal annealing. Replicating this phenomenon in a programmable system has remained a central challenge in quantum optimization. In this talk we present experimental results on quantum critical dynamics of thousands of qubits using a superconducting quantum annealer. We extract critical exponents that clearly differentiate quantum annealing from the slower stochastic dynamics of comparable Monte Carlo algorithms. Finally, we provide theoretical and experimental evidence for scaling advantage in energy optimization.

Refreshments will be provided, following the talk, to allow for additional discussion.