Quantum Annealing of Hard Problems
arXiv:0910.5644 · doi:10.1143/PTPS.184.290
Abstract
Quantum annealing is analogous to simulated annealing with a tunneling mechanism substituting for thermal activation. Its performance has been tested in numerical simulation with mixed conclusions. There is a class of optimization problems for which the efficiency can be studied analytically using techniques based on the statistical mechanics of spin glasses.
Proceedings of the "YKIS 2009 : Frontiers in Nonequilibrium Physics" conference in Kyoto, August 2009. A shorter version can found in arXiv:0806.4144v3