Quantum-Guided Cluster Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum-guided cluster algorithm that uses quantum-derived correlations to efficiently solve combinatorial optimization problems like Max-Cut, overcoming local minima issues in spin glass models.

Contribution

It presents a novel cluster algorithm leveraging quantum and classical correlations to improve exploration in combinatorial optimization, especially for spin glasses.

Findings

Quantum correlations increase cluster acceptance rates at low temperatures.

Deeper quantum circuits enhance the algorithm's efficiency.

Clusters formed with quantum correlations facilitate escape from local minima.

Abstract

Finding the ground state of Ising spin glasses is notoriously difficult due to disorder and frustration. Often, this challenge is framed as a combinatorial optimization problem, for which a common strategy employs simulated annealing, a Monte Carlo (MC)-based algorithm that updates spins one at a time. Yet, these localized updates can cause the system to become trapped in local minima. Cluster algorithms (CAs) were developed to address this limitation and have demonstrated considerable success in studying ferromagnetic systems; however, they tend to encounter percolation issues when applied to generic spin glasses. In this work, we introduce a novel CA designed to tackle these challenges by leveraging precomputed two-point correlations, aiming solve combinatorial optimization problems in the form of Max-Cut more efficiently. In our approach, clusters are formed probabilistically based on these correlations. Various classical and quantum algorithms can be employed to generate correlations that embody information about the energy landscape of the problem. By utilizing this information, the algorithm aims to identify groups of spins whose simultaneous flipping induces large transitions in configuration space with high acceptance probability -- even at low energy levels -- thereby escaping local minima more effectively. Notably, clusters generated using correlations from the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm exhibit high acceptance rates at low temperatures. These acceptance rates often increase with circuit depth, accelerating the algorithm and enabling more efficient exploration of the solution space.