Suppressing excitations using quantum-Brachistochrone and nearest-neighbour interactions

We examine excitation suppression in the transverse-field Ising model (TFIM), where finite-time drive across a quantum critical point is assisted by the presence of a time-dependent coupling parameter. While conventional counterdiabatic protocols are designed to eliminate excitations, they often require complex many-body terms that are difficult to realize experimentally. In contrast, our approach employs a local, time-dependent modulation of an existing coupling term in the Hamiltonian. Within the framework of quantum optimal control, we find that under a linear ramp of the transverse field, the optimal evolution of the second parameter follows a non-monotonic trajectory. For the TFIM, this protocol yields higher fidelity and improved robustness against noise compared to several orders of approximate counterdiabatic driving. Furthermore, we provide an analytical demonstration of anti-Kibble-Zurek scaling in the presence of noise acting on either the transverse field or the longitudinal coupling. These results highlight the potential of this approach for developing simple, noise-resilient protocols for finite-time quantum state preparation.