This is a pie in the sky idea, and a problem finding sort of question that can probably be dismantled easily, but in light of alternative energy needs with climate change, I think it would be irresponsible not to put it out there, so here goes:
Google and NASA are working on quantum annealing.
Quantum annealing can gain some advantage in classical annealing processes.
Furthermore, as the Climate Change AI paper points out, a key difficulty in realizing nuclear fusion is the location of equilibria of magnetohydrodynamic equations.
Recent work has been done toward showing that equilibria of relevant magnetohydrodynamic equations can be found using annealing.
Of course, the devil is in the details:
Question: What are some precise problems whose solution can contribute to leveraging quantum annealing to effectively locate equilibria for the magnetohydrodynamic equations relevant for nuclear fusion?
I am mostly asking this crazy question because of the need to accelerate progress on fusion to address climate change. Publicizing everything known about this approach in one place can hopefully help facilitate progress. (This does not change that the question reads suspiciously as if it were asked by the guy below:)
