Benchmarking quantum annealers using symmetries in embedded subgraphs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a symmetry-based benchmarking method for quantum annealers that evaluates performance without needing the true ground state, and compares two D-Wave generations.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel symmetry-based benchmarking approach for quantum annealers that does not require prior knowledge of the ground state.

Findings

Current D-Wave machines outperform previous versions in finding symmetric states.

No significant difference observed in solution probability with the required symmetry.

The method effectively compares quantum annealer performance without ground state knowledge.

Abstract

We investigate an efficient, generic method for evaluating the performance of quantum annealing devices that does not require the prior knowledge of the true ground state of the benchmark problem. This approach exploits symmetry properties inherent to the ground states of a composite Hamiltonian comprising the benchmark problem Hamiltonian and its symmetric counterpart. Using this method, we compare the performance of two generations of D-Wave machines. Although we do not observe a noticeable difference in the probability of finding solutions with the required symmetry, our results suggest that the current generation of D-Wave machines notably outperforms its predecessor in finding states closer to those with the required symmetry.