Gardas, BartlomiejDeffner, Sebstian2018-01-302018-01-302018http://hdl.handle.net/11603/7731Near term quantum hardware promises unprecedented computational advantage. Crucial in its development is the characterization and minimization of computational errors. We propose the use of the quantum fluctuation theorem to benchmark the performance of quantum annealers. This versatile tool provides simple means to determine whether the quantum dynamics are unital, unitary, and adiabatic, or whether the system is prone to thermal noise. Our proposal is experimentally tested on two generations of the D-Wave machine, which illustrates the sensitivity of the fluctuation theorem to the smallest aberrations from ideal annealing.5 pagesen-USThis item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.quantum physicsstatistical mechanicsquantum annealersquantum fluctuation theoremquantum dynamamicsD-Wave machineText