Classical Thermometry of Quantum Annealers

TL;DR

This study evaluates the thermal fidelity of quantum annealers across various system sizes and parameters, revealing non-thermal effects and proposing a framework for accurate thermometry to enhance their use in thermodynamic research.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive experimental assessment of Gibbs sampling fidelity in large-scale quantum annealers and introduces a robust thermometry framework for these devices.

Findings

Effective temperature scaling requires a non-zero offset.

Residual non-thermal effects are consistent across machines.

Physical temperature measurements differ systematically from nominal device temperatures.

Abstract

Quantum annealers are emerging as programmable, dynamical experimental platforms for probing strongly correlated spin systems. Yet key thermal assumptions, chiefly a Gibbs-distributed output ensemble, remain unverified in the large-scale regime. Here, we experimentally and quantitatively assess Gibbs sampling fidelity across system sizes spanning over three orders of magnitude. We explore a wide parameter space of coupling strengths, system sizes, annealing times, and D-wave hardware architectures. We find that the naively assumed scaling law for the effective temperature requires a non-negligible, coupling-independent offset that is robust across machines and parameter regimes, quantifying residual non-thermal effects that still conform to an effective Gibbs description. These non-idealities are further reflected in a systematic discrepancy between the physical temperature inferred from the sampled ensemble and the nominal cryogenic temperature of the device. Our results systematically assess the viability of quantum annealers as experimental platforms for probing classical thermodynamics, correct previous assumptions, and provide a physically grounded thermometry framework to benchmark these machines for future thermodynamic experiments.