Nonadiabatic quantum optimization for crossing quantum phase transitions

We consider the optimal driving of the ground state of a many-body quantum system across a quantum phase transition in finite time. In this context, excitations caused by the breakdown of adiabaticity can be minimized by adjusting the schedule of the control parameter that drives the transition. Drawing inspiration from the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, we characterize the timescale of onset of adiabaticity for several optimal control procedures. Our analysis reveals that schedules relying on local adiabaticity, such as Roland-Cerf's local adiabatic driving and the quantum adiabatic brachistochrone, fail to provide a significant speedup over the adiabatic evolution in the transverse-field Ising and long-range Kitaev models. As an alternative, we introduce a framework, nonadiabatic quantum optimization (NAQO), that, by exploiting the Landau-Zener formula and taking into account the role of higher-excited states, outperforms schedules obtained via both local adiabaticity and state-of-the-art numerical optimization. NAQO is not restricted to exactly solvable models, and we further confirm its superior performance in a disordered nonintegrable model.