Benchmarking the quantum approximate optimization algorithm
Open accessAbstract
The performance of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm is evaluated by using three different measures: the probability of finding the ground state, the energy expectation value, and a ratio closely related to the approximation ratio. The set of problem instances studied consists of weighted MaxCut problems and 2-satisfiability problems. The Ising model representations of the latter possess unique ground states and highly degenerate first excited states. The quantum approximate optimization algorithm is executed on quantum computer simulators and on the IBM Q Experience. Additionally, data obtained from the D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealer are used for comparison, and it is found that the D-Wave machine outperforms the quantum approximate optimization algorithm executed on a simulator. The overall performance of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm is found to strongly depend on the problem instance.
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Other investigations highlight the strong dependence of QAOA on the problem instance, the number of parameters, and their initialization.
“Other investigations highlight the strong dependence of QAOA on the problem instance, the number of parameters, and their initialization [81, 142].”
From Quantum Combinatorial Optimization in the NISQ Era: A Systematic Mapping Study (2024) · cites this paper as [142]
Comparative evaluation studies have demonstrated the superiority of QA in terms of performance.
“Last, comparative evaluation studies between VQAs and QA have demonstrated (i) the reachability issues of QAOA compared to VQE [10], (ii) the ability of QAOA to harness diabatic processes in contrast to QA [154], (iii) the superiority of QA in terms of performance [142], and (iv) the character of QAOA as a digitized version of QA [141].”
From Quantum Combinatorial Optimization in the NISQ Era: A Systematic Mapping Study (2024) · cites this paper as [142]
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“…VQAs and QA have demonstrated (i) the reachability issues of QAOA compared to VQE [10], (ii) the ability of QAOA to harness diabatic processes in contrast to QA [154], (iii) the superiority of QA in terms of performance [142], and (iv) the character of QAOA as a digitized version of QA [141].”
Background
- Authors
- Willsch, M., Willsch, D., Jin, F., De Raedt, H., & Michielsen, K.
- Affiliations
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Willsch, Madita
- ORCID
- Willsch, Madita
- Venue
- Quantum Information Processing
- Published
- 2020-06-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 7
- ISSN
- 1570-0755 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-1332
- OpenAlex
- W2955075300
- Cited by
- 128
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 7.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Quantum Information Processing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft (ZT-0013)
- European Commission (820363)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum many-body systems
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithms Research
- Keywords
- quantum approximate optimization algorithm, benchmarking, Ising model, energy expectation value, approximation ratio, quantum annealing, D-Wave 2000Q
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