When Do Quantum Correlations Matter for Quantum Annealing?

arXiv:2611.15351v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Whether quantum correlations give non-adiabatic annealing a scaling advantage remains an open question. We address it by comparing quantum annealing (QA) with quantum-inspired annealing (QIA), a classical protocol that retains the Hamiltonian structure and annealing schedule of QA while excluding nonlocal quantum correlations. Across models varying in dimensionality, disorder, and frustration, we find that the difference in scaling between the two protocols is strongly model dependent. QA shows a clear advantage in clean, low-dimensional systems, but the advantage diminishes with increasing dimensionality and becomes negligible in three or more dimensions. Disorder and frustration further narrow the difference.