D-Wave One, an integrated quantum computing system, was recently deployed at USC in California. The system has been engineered to harness the power of quantum evolution to solve optimization problems.

In this talk, first I will present a short introduction to adiabatic quantum computation (Farhi et al 2000), the theoretical quantum physics fundamentals in which our system is based on. I will then cover the specifics of the system, its current features and how it can be used. Finally, I will discuss applications to problems in machine learning, factoring, finding Ramsey numbers, and a special type of blackbox binary optimization.

The talk will assume no previous exposure to the subject.