  Lattice gauge theory is an essential tool for strongly interacting
non-Abelian fields, such as those in quantum chromodynamics where lattice
results have been of central importance for several decades. Recent studies
suggest that quantum computers could extend the reach of lattice gauge theory
in dramatic ways, but the usefulness of quantum annealing hardware for lattice
gauge theory has not yet been explored. In this work, we implement SU(2) pure
gauge theory on a quantum annealer for lattices comprising a few plaquettes in
a row with a periodic boundary condition. Numerical results are obtained from
calculations on D-Wave Advantage hardware for eigenvalues, eigenvectors, vacuum
expectation values, and time evolution. The success of this initial exploration
indicates that the quantum annealer might become a useful hardware platform for
some aspects of lattice gauge theories.
