Assessing quantum coherence in quantum annealers
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.21355 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 24 Feb 2026] Title:Assessing quantum coherence in quantum annealers Authors:Connor Aronoff, Travis Howard, David Nicholaeff, Alejandro Lopez-Bezanilla, Wade DeGottardi View a PDF of the paper titled Assessing quantum coherence in quantum annealers, by Connor Aronoff and 4 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Demonstrating genuine many-body quantum coherence in large-scale quantum processors remains a central challenge for near-term quantum technologies. Recent experiments on D-Wave quantum annealers have investigated quenches of Ising chains and observed defect densities that show Kibble-Zurek scaling, consistent with coherent quantum dynamics. However, identical scaling can arise from classical or thermal processes. Here we propose the use of many-body coherent oscillations (MBCO) as a diagnostic for the identification of system-wide coherence in analog quantum simulators. Solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation, we show that quenches of a staggered one-dimensional Ising chain across a quantum critical point produce oscillatory signatures in defect observables. We implement this model on the D-Wave Advantage quantum annealer. Using fast-anneal protocols, we find that, although defect densities follow Kibble-Zurek scaling, the expected oscillatory behavior is absent. We demonstrate that static disorder associated with individual qubits is not likely responsible for the absence of MBCO. Modest modifications to annealing schedules can dramatically enhance oscillation visibility. This work gives a general roadmap for the search for quantum coherence in noisy, large-scale quantum platforms. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) Cite as: arXiv:2602.21355 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.21355v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.21355 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Wade DeGottardi [view email] [v1] Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:39:41 UTC (8,881 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Assessing quantum coherence in quantum annealers, by Connor Aronoff and 4 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.other References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)