In both algorithms objective functions, that will be executed with non quantum computers, are used. Both algorithms are methods for finding the global minimum of a given objective function.
Quantum annealing can be compared to simulated annealing (SA), whose "temperature" parameter plays a similar role to QA's tunneling field strength.
What is meant by "tunneling field strength"?
The choice of next candidate state seems to be the only difference between the algorithms, is that correct?
Finally, what are the advantages of Quantum annealing? Is it faster, or is it just better at handling local minima?