Efficient Encodings of the Travelling Salesperson Problem for Variational Quantum Algorithms

Manuel Schnaus, Lilly Palackal, Benedikt Poggel, Xiomara Runge, Hans Ehm, Jeanette Miriam Lorenz, Christian B. Mendl

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Routing problems are a common optimization problem in industrial applications, which occur on a large scale in supply chain planning. Due to classical limitations for solving NP-hard problems, quantum computing hopes to improve upon speed or solution quality. Several suggestions have been made for encodings of routing problems to solve them with variational quantum algorithms. However, for an end user it is hard to decide a priori which encoding will give the best solutions according to their needs. In this work, we investigate different encodings for the Travelling Salesperson Problem. We compare their scaling and performance when using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm and the Variational Quantum Eigensolver and provide a clear guide for users when to choose which encoding. For small instances, we find evidence that the permutation encoding can yield good results since it does not suffer from feasibility issues.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software, QSW 2024
EditorsRong N. Chang, Carl K. Chang, Jingwei Yang, Zhi Jin, Michael Sheng, Jing Fan, Kenneth Fletcher, Qiang He, Ismael Faro, Frank Leymann, Johanna Barzen, Salvador de la Puente, Sebastian Feld, Manuel Wimmer, Nimanthi Atukorala, Hongyue Wu, David Elkouss, Jose Garcia-Alonso, Aritra Sarkar
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages81-87
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9798350368475
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Event3rd IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software, QSW 2024 - Shenzhen, China
Duration: 7 Jul 202413 Jul 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software, QSW 2024

Conference

Conference3rd IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software, QSW 2024
Country/TerritoryChina
CityShenzhen
Period7/07/2413/07/24

Keywords

  • Encoding
  • Quantum Optimization
  • Travelling Salesperson Problem
  • Variational Quantum Algorithms

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