Quantum Annealing with Trigger Hamiltonians: Application to 2-SAT and Nonstoquastic Problems

TL;DR

This paper investigates the impact of trigger Hamiltonians on quantum annealing performance for 2-SAT and nonstoquastic problems, revealing mechanisms that can enhance solution efficiency through spectral analysis.

Contribution

It introduces the use of trigger Hamiltonians in quantum annealing for 2-SAT and nonstoquastic problems, analyzing their effects on performance and non-adiabatic mechanisms.

Findings

Trigger Hamiltonians can improve annealing success rates.

Spectral analysis reveals non-adiabatic mechanisms enhancing performance.

Performance varies with problem type and Hamiltonian parameters.

Abstract

We study the performance of quantum annealing for two sets of problems, namely, 2-satisfiability (2-SAT) problems represented by Ising-type Hamiltonians, and nonstoquastic problems which are obtained by adding extra couplings to the 2-SAT problem Hamiltonians. In addition, we add to the transverse Ising-type Hamiltonian used for quantum annealing a third term, the trigger Hamiltonian with ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic couplings, which vanishes at the beginning and end of the annealing process. We also analyze some problem instances using the energy spectrum, average energy or overlap of the state during the evolution with the instantaneous low lying eigenstates of the Hamiltonian, and identify some non-adiabatic mechanisms which can enhance the performance of quantum annealing.