Zhang, H., Boothby, K. & Kamenev, A. Cyclic quantum annealing: searching for deep low-energy states in 5000-qubit spin glass. Sci Rep 14, 30784 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80761-z
Quantum computers promise a qualitative speedup in solving a broad spectrum of practical optimization problems. The latter can be mapped onto the task of finding low-energy states of spin glasses, which is known to be exceedingly difficult. Using D-Wave’s 5000-qubit quantum processor, we demonstrate that a recently proposed iterative cyclic quantum annealing algorithm can find deep low-energy states in record time. We also find intricate structures in a low-energy landscape of spin glasses, such as a power-law distribution of connected clusters with a small surface energy. These observations offer guidance for further improvement of the optimization algorithms.