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We propose a novel hybrid quantum-classical approach to calculate Graver bases, which have the potential to solve a variety of hard linear and non-linear integer programs, as they form a test set (optimality certificate) with very appealing properties. The calculation of Graver bases is exponentially hard (in general) on classical computers, so they not used for solving practical problems on commercial solvers. With a quantum annealer, however, it may be a viable approach to use them. We test two hybrid quantum-classical algorithms (on D-Wave)--one for computing Graver basis and a second for optimizing non-linear integer programs that utilize Graver bases--to understand the strengths and limitations of the practical quantum annealers available today. Our experiments suggest that with a modest increase in coupler precision--along with near-term improvements in the number of qubits and connectivity (density of hardware graph) that are expected--the ability to outperform classical best-in-class algorithms is within reach, with respect to non-linear integer optimization.
Inspired by the decomposition in the hybrid quantum-classical optimization algorithm we introduced in arXiv:1902.04215, we propose here a new (fully classical) approach to solving certain non-convex integer programs using Graver bases. This method is well suited when (a) the constraint matrix $A$ has a special structure so that its Graver basis can be computed systematically, (b) several feasible solutions can also be constructed easily and (c) the objective function can be viewed as many convex functions quilted together. Classes of problems that satisfy these conditions include Cardinality Boolean Quadratic Problems (CBQP), Quadratic Semi-Assignment Problems (QSAP) and Quadratic Assignment Problems (QAP). Our Graver Augmented Multi-seed Algorithm (GAMA) utilizes augmentation along Graver basis elements (the improvement direction is obtained by comparing objective function values) from these multiple initial feasible solutions. We compare our approach with a best-in-class commercially available solver (Gurobi). Sensitivity analysis indicates that the rate at which GAMA slows down as the problem size increases is much lower than that of Gurobi. We find that for several instances of practical relevance, GAMA not only vastly outperforms in terms of time to find the optimal solution (by two or three orders of magnitude), but also finds optimal solutions within minutes when the commercial solver is not able to do so in 4 or 10 hours (depending on the problem class) in several cases.
While quantum computing proposes promising solutions to computational problems not accessible with classical approaches, due to current hardware constraints, most quantum algorithms are not yet capable of computing systems of practical relevance, and classical counterparts outperform them. To practically benefit from quantum architecture, one has to identify problems and algorithms with favorable scaling and improve on corresponding limitations depending on available hardware. For this reason, we developed an algorithm that solves integer linear programming problems, a classically NP-hard problem, on a quantum annealer, and investigated problem and hardware-specific limitations. This work presents the formalism of how to map ILP problems to the annealing architectures, how to systematically improve computations utilizing optimized anneal schedules, and models the anneal process through a simulation. It illustrates the effects of decoherence and many body localization for the minimum dominating set problem, and compares annealing results against numerical simulations of the quantum architecture. We find that the algorithm outperforms random guessing but is limited to small problems and that annealing schedules can be adjusted to reduce the effects of decoherence. Simulations qualitatively reproduce algorithmic improvements of the modified annealing schedule, suggesting the improvements have origins from quantum effects.
We study the performance of quantum annealing for two sets of problems, namely, 2-satisfiability (2-SAT) problems represented by Ising-type Hamiltonians, and nonstoquastic problems which are obtained by adding extra couplings to the 2-SAT problem Hamiltonians. In addition, we add to the transverse Ising-type Hamiltonian used for quantum annealing a third term, the trigger Hamiltonian with ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic couplings, which vanishes at the beginning and end of the annealing process. We also analyze some problem instances using the energy spectrum, average energy or overlap of the state during the evolution with the instantaneous low lying eigenstates of the Hamiltonian, and identify some non-adiabatic mechanisms which can enhance the performance of quantum annealing.
We introduce two methods for speeding up adiabatic quantum computations by increasing the energy between the ground and first excited states. Our methods are even more general. They can be used to shift a Hamiltonians density of states away from the ground state, so that fewer states occupy the low-lying energies near the minimum, hence allowing for faster adiabatic passages to find the ground state with less risk of getting caught in an undesired low-lying excited state during the passage. Even more generally, our methods can be used to transform a discrete optimization problem into a new one whose unique minimum still encodes the desired answer, but with the objective functions values forming a different landscape. Aspects of the landscape such as the objective functions range, or the values of certain coefficients, or how many different inputs lead to a given output value, can be decreased *or* increased. One of the many examples for which these methods are useful is in finding the ground state of a Hamiltonian using NMR: If it is difficult to find a molecule such that the distances between the spins match the interactions in the Hamiltonian, the interactions in the Hamiltonian can be changed without at all changing the ground state. We apply our methods to an AQC algorithm for integer factorization, and the first method reduces the maximum runtime in our example by up to 754%, and the second method reduces the maximum runtime of another example by up to 250%. These two methods may also be combined.
We study the effect of the anneal path control per qubit, a new user control feature offered on the D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealer, on the performance of quantum annealing for solving optimization problems by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for the time-dependent Hamiltonian modeling the annealing problems. The anneal path control is thereby modeled as a modified linear annealing scheme, resulting in an advanced and retarded scheme. The considered optimization problems are 2-SAT problems with 12 Boolean variables, a known unique ground state and a highly degenerate first excited state. We show that adjustment of the anneal path control can result in a widening of the minimal spectral gap by one or two orders of magnitude and an enhancement of the success probability of finding the solution of the optimization problem. We scrutinize various iterative methods based on the spin floppiness, the average spin value, and on the average energy and describe their performance in boosting the quantum annealing process.