Evidence of power: Phasing quantum annealers into experiments from nonequilibrium physics

3 years ago
Anonymous $rxtAWepgzY

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910130418.htm

It is established that matter can transition between different phases when certain parameters, such as temperature, are changed. Although phase transitions are common (like water turning into ice in a freezer), the dynamics that govern these processes are highly complex and constitute a prominent problem in the field of nonequilibrium physics.

When a system undergoes a phase transition, matter in the new phase has many possible energetically equal "configurations" to adopt. In these cases, different parts of the system adopt different configurations over regions called "domains." The interfaces between these domains are known as topological defects and reducing the number of these defects formed can be immensely valuable in many applications.