Abstract:
D-Wave systems quantum annealing processors implement the transverse-field Ising model in superconducting flux qubits. Although the initial intention was to solve classical computation problems such as sampling and optimization, recent publications show that with the newly introduced knobs, one can probe quantum systems with a significant transverse field. In this lecture, I will start with a brief introduction of quantum annealing, transverse-field Ising model and the type of classical computation problems that D-Wave quantum annealers can tackle. Rest of the lecture, I will talk about two recent publications: investigation of spin-glass / ferromagnetic / paramagnetic phase transitions in a 3D cubic lattice (Science 165, pp162-165, 2018) and investigation of a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in a fully-frustrated 2D lattice (Nature 560, pp456-460, 2018).