D-Wave shows performance advantage in quantum simulation of exotic magnetism

D-Wave Systems Inc. published today a milestone study in collaboration with scientists at Google, which shows an advantage for computer performance, which increases with simulation size and problem hardness, up to more than 3 million times that of similar classical methods. This work was especially achieved on a practical application with implications in the real world, which mimicked the topological phenomena behind the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. This performance advantage, shown in a complex quantum simulation of materials, is a significant step in the journey to application advantage in quantum computing.

The work of scientists from D-Wave and Google also shows that quantum effects can be used to provide a computational advantage in D-Wave processors, on a problem scale that requires thousands of qubits. Recent experiments performed on several D-Wave processors are by far the largest quantum simulations ever performed by existing quantum computers.

The paper, entitled “Scale advantage over road integral Monte Carlo in quantum simulation of geometrically frustrated magnets”, was published in the journal Nature communication. D-Wave researchers programmed the D-Wave 2000Q system to model a two-dimensional frustrated quantum magnet using artificial rotation. The behavior of the magnet was described by the Nobel Prize-winning work of the theoretical physicists Vadim Berezinskii, J. Michael Kosterlitz and David Thouless. They predicted a new condition in the 1970s characterized by non-topical topological features.

This new research is a continuation of previous breakthrough work that D-Wave’s team published in 2018 Nature paper entitled “Observation of topological phenomena in a programmable grid of 1800 qubits.” In this latest article, researchers from D-Wave, along with contributors from Google, use D-Wave’s reduced noise processor to achieve excellent performance and gain insights into the dynamics of the processor that have never been observed before.

“This work is the clearest proof that quantum effects offer a computational advantage in D-Wave processors,” said Dr. Andrew King, principal investigator for this work at D-Wave, said. “By tying the magnet in a topological knot and seeing how it escapes, we have given the first detailed look at dynamics that are normally too fast to observe. What we see is a great advantage in absolute terms , with the scale advantage in temperature and size that we would hope for.This simulation is a real problem that scientists have already attacked using the algorithms we compared, which was an important milestone and an important foundation for future development. That would not have been possible today without D-Wave’s lower noise processor. “

“The search for quantum advantage in calculations is becoming more and more lively because there are special problems where real progress is being made. These problems may seem somewhat conceivable even to physicists, but in this paper from a collaboration between D-Wave Systems, Google and Simon Fraser University, it seems that there is an advantage to quantum annealing using a special target processor over classical simulations for the more ‘practical’ problem of finding the equilibrium state of a particular quantum magnet, ‘says Prof. Dr. Gabriel Aeppli, professor physics at ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne, and head of the Photon Science Division of the Paul Scherrer Institute. classic processors are not implemented. “

“Emerging quantum technologies only become practical tools when they leave classical peers in the dust when they solve real problems,” said Hidetoshi Nishimori, professor, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology. An important step in this direction has been achieved in this paper by providing clear evidence of a scale advantage of the quantum glow as an impregnable classical computer competitor to simulate dynamic properties of a complex material.

“Successfully demonstrating such complex phenomena is in itself further proof of the programmability and flexibility of D-Wave’s quantum computer,” said D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz. “But perhaps even more important is the fact that it was not demonstrated on a synthetic or ‘trick’ problem. It was achieved on a real problem in physics versus an industry standard tool for simulation – a proof of the practical value of the -Wave processor.We must always do two things: advance science and increase the performance of our systems and technologies to help customers develop applications with real business value.This kind of scientific breakthrough of our team is consistent with the mission and speaks of the emerging value that is possible today to derive from quantum computing. ‘

The scientific achievements presented in Nature communication further supports D-Wave’s ongoing work with world-class customers to develop more than 250 early quantum computing applications, with a number of experiments in manufacturing applications, in various industries such as manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceutical, life sciences, retail and financial services. In September 2020, D-Wave launched its next generation Advantage quantum system via the Leap quantum cloud service. The system includes more than 5,000 qubits and 15-way qubit connectivity, as well as an extensive hybrid solution service that can run business problems with up to one million variables. The combination of Advantage’s computing power and scale with the hybrid solution service enables businesses to run high-performance, real-time quantum applications for the first time.

Provided by D-Wave Systems