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Tighter Lower Bounds on Quantum Annealing Times

by Luis Pedro García-Pintos, Mrunmay Sahasrabudhe, Christian Arenz

Submission summary

Authors (as registered SciPost users): Luis Pedro Garcia-Pintos
Submission information
Preprint Link: scipost_202503_00016v1  (pdf)
Date submitted: 2025-03-10 17:31
Submitted by: Garcia-Pintos, Luis Pedro
Submitted to: SciPost Physics
Ontological classification
Academic field: Physics
Specialties:
  • Condensed Matter Physics - Theory
  • Quantum Physics
Approach: Theoretical

Abstract

We derive lower bounds on the time needed for a quantum annealer to prepare the ground state of a target Hamiltonian. These bounds do not depend on the annealing schedule and can take the local structure of the Hamiltonian into account. Consequently, the bounds are computable without knowledge of the annealer's dynamics and, in certain cases, scale with the size of the system. We discuss spin systems where the bounds are polynomially tighter than existing bounds, qualitatively capturing the scaling of the exact annealing times as a function of the number of spins.

Author indications on fulfilling journal expectations

  • Provide a novel and synergetic link between different research areas.
  • Open a new pathway in an existing or a new research direction, with clear potential for multi-pronged follow-up work
  • Detail a groundbreaking theoretical/experimental/computational discovery
  • Present a breakthrough on a previously-identified and long-standing research stumbling block

Author comments upon resubmission

We thank the Referees for the work they devoted to our submission. We were delighted with their generally positive responses, and are grateful for the valuable feedback that they provided. We submit an updated manuscript incorporating changes in response to the Referee's comments.

In particular, the new manuscript includes a new section where we discuss the tightness of the new bounds. We have also added a numerical comparison to previous bounds in the literature, as well as several minor changes in response to the three Referees.

We provided a detailed answer to the Referees' comments. To ease the review process, we included a document where all changes are highlighted in blue. We believe these changes have strengthened the manuscript.

Respectfully,
Luis Pedro Garc\'ia-Pintos, Mrunmay Sahasrabudhe, and Christian Arenz

List of changes

We added a new section that discusses the tightness of our bounds and how they compare to previous bounds considered in the literature.

We added a numerical comparison between our bounds and previous ones in the literature.

We fixed several typos.

Current status:
In refereeing

Reports on this Submission

Report #2 by Anonymous (Referee 3) on 2025-3-15 (Invited Report)

Report

The authors have addressed all the points raised by the three referees to my satisfaction. I therefore recommend publication in the present form.

Recommendation

Publish (easily meets expectations and criteria for this Journal; among top 50%)

  • validity: high
  • significance: high
  • originality: high
  • clarity: high
  • formatting: excellent
  • grammar: excellent

Report #1 by Anonymous (Referee 1) on 2025-3-12 (Invited Report)

Report

The work is now presented in a broader context.

Recommendation

Publish (meets expectations and criteria for this Journal)

  • validity: good
  • significance: good
  • originality: good
  • clarity: high
  • formatting: good
  • grammar: -

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