Adiabatic Quantum Computation and Quantum Annealing

Adiabatic quantum computation (AQC) is an alternative to the better-known gate model of quantum computation. The two models are polynomially equivalent, but otherwise quite dissimilar: one property that distinguishes AQC from the gate model is its analog nature. Quantum annealing (QA) describes a type of heuristic search algorithm that can be implemented to run in the ``native instruction set'' of an AQC platform. D-Wave Systems Inc. manufactures {quantum annealing processor chips} that exploit