Lower bounds for adiabatic quantum algorithms by quantum speed limits

Abstract: We introduce a simple framework for estimating lower bounds on the runtime of a broad class of adiabatic quantum algorithms. The central formula consists of calculating the variance of the final Hamiltonian with respect to the initial state. After examining adiabatic versions of certain keystone circuit-based quantum algorithms, this technique is applied to adiabatic quantum algorithms with undetermined speedup. In particular, we analytically obtain lower bounds on adiabatic algorithms for finding k-clique in random graphs. Additionally, for a particular class of Hamiltonian, it is straightforward to prove the equivalence between our framework and the conventional approach based on spectral gap analysis.