Efficient low temperature Monte Carlo sampling using quantum annealing

Quantum annealing is an efficient technology to determine ground state configurations of discrete binary optimization problems, described through Ising Hamiltonians. Here we show that—at very low computational cost—finite temperature properties can be calculated. The approach is most efficient at low temperatures, where conventional approaches like Metropolis Monte Carlo sampling suffer from high rejection rates and therefore large statistical noise. To demonstrate the general approach, we apply it to spin glasses and Ising chains.