Quantum Annealing

Adiabatic quantum computing is a process that has been used by D-Wave with substantial success. In adiabatic quantum computing, the problem to be solved is encoded into the ground state of an initial Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian is then adiabatically transformed into a final Hamiltonian, whose ground state encodes the solution to the problem. Adiabatic quantum computing is closely related to quantum annealing. Quantum annealing is a specific type of adiabatic quantum computing used mainly for solving optimization problems.