Matthias Troyer
Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich
Matthias Troyer (left) with Gianni Blatter
Date
30 October 2013
Host
Gianni Blatter
Title
Quantum Annealing
Abstract
Quantum annealing combines the neolithic technology of slow thermal cooling with quantum mechanical tunneling, to bring a physical system faster towards its ground state. The Canadian company D-Wave systems has recently built and sold programmable quantum annealing devices using this effect to find solutions to hard optimization problems. I will present results of experiments designed to answer the crucial questions about these controversial devices: are they quantum or classical? And are they faster than classical devices?