Milestones on the Quantum Utility Highway
Catherine C. McGeoch, Pau Farré · 2022
We define the quantum utility performance metric and three milestones, which define quantum utility as measured in some limited context. Current and previous-generation annealing quantum systems can outperform classical solvers on a variety of input classes, on Milestones 0 and 1; our tests of Milestone 2 show positive results on a small set of inputs. Characterization of the input properties that drive these outcomes suggests that future tests will yield more widespread successes on these and more challenging milestones.