Boltzmann Sampling by Diabatic Quantum Annealing

TL;DR

This paper proposes diabatic quantum annealing as a fast, controllable method for Boltzmann sampling, overcoming environmental noise issues in quantum annealers.

Contribution

It introduces a purely unitary diabatic quantum annealing approach that determines effective temperature via annealing rate, enabling rapid, accurate high-temperature sampling.

Findings

Achieves rapid sampling in high-temperature regimes

Demonstrates effectiveness with ferromagnetic Ising model

Validates approach with Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model

Abstract

Boltzmann sampling is a central component of many computational frameworks, including numerous algorithms in machine learning. Although quantum annealers have been investigated as potential fast Boltzmann samplers, their dependence on environmental noise makes precise control of the effective temperature difficult, introducing uncertainty into the sampling process. As an alternative, we propose diabatic quantum annealing -- a faster, purely unitary process -- as a controllable Boltzmann sampler in which the effective temperature is determined by the annealing rate. Using the ferromagnetic Ising model and the Sherrington--Kirkpatrick model as test cases, we demonstrate that this method achieves rapid and accurate sampling in the high-temperature regime.