Convergence condition of simulated quantum annealing with a non-stoquastic catalyst

Abstract: The Ising model with a transverse field and an antiferromagnetic transverse interaction is represented as a matrix in the computational basis with non-zero off-diagonal elements with both positive and negative signs and thus may be regarded to be non-stoquastic. We show that the local Boltzmann factors of such a system under an appropriate Suzuki-Trotter representation can be chosen non-negative and thus may potentially be simulated classically without a sign problem if the parameter values are limited to a subspace of the whole parameter space. We then derive conditions for parameters to satisfy asymptotically in order that simulated quantum annealing of this system converges to thermal equilibrium in the long-time limit.