Demonstration of a scaling advantage for a quantum annealer over simulated annealing

Understand

The observation of an unequivocal quantum speedup remains an elusive objective for quantum computing.

• The D-Wave quantum annealing processors have been at the forefront of experimental attempts to address this goal, given their relatively large numbers of qubits and programmability.
• A complete determination of the optimal time-to-solution (TTS) using these processors has not been possible to date, preventing definitive conclusions about the presence of a scaling advantage.
• The main technical obstacle has been the inability to verify an optimal annealing time within the available range.