Hybrid Quantum-Classical Optimisation of Traveling Salesperson Problem

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lytrosyngounis, Christos, Lytrosyngounis, Ioannis
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Lytrosyngounis, Christos
Lytrosyngounis, Ioannis
author_facet Lytrosyngounis, Christos
Lytrosyngounis, Ioannis
contents The Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) is a fundamental NP-hard optimisation challenge with widespread applications in logistics, operations research, and network design. While classical algorithms effectively solve small to medium-sized instances, they struggle with scalability due to exponential complexity. In this work, we present a hybrid quantum-classical approach that leverages IBM's Qiskit Runtime to integrate quantum optimisation techniques with classical machine learning methods, specifically K-Means clustering and Random Forest classifiers. These machine learning components aid in problem decomposition and noise mitigation, improving the quality of quantum solutions. Experimental results for TSP instances ranging from 4 to 8 cities reveal that the quantum-only approach produces solutions up to 21.7% worse than the classical baseline, while the hybrid method reduces this cost increase to 11.3% for 8 cities. This demonstrates that hybrid approaches improve solution quality compared to purely quantum methods but remain suboptimal compared to classical solvers. Despite current hardware limitations, these results highlight the potential of quantum-enhanced methods for combinatorial optimisation, paving the way for future advancements in scalable quantum computing frameworks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_00219
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hybrid Quantum-Classical Optimisation of Traveling Salesperson Problem
Lytrosyngounis, Christos
Lytrosyngounis, Ioannis
Quantum Physics
Emerging Technologies
The Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) is a fundamental NP-hard optimisation challenge with widespread applications in logistics, operations research, and network design. While classical algorithms effectively solve small to medium-sized instances, they struggle with scalability due to exponential complexity. In this work, we present a hybrid quantum-classical approach that leverages IBM's Qiskit Runtime to integrate quantum optimisation techniques with classical machine learning methods, specifically K-Means clustering and Random Forest classifiers. These machine learning components aid in problem decomposition and noise mitigation, improving the quality of quantum solutions. Experimental results for TSP instances ranging from 4 to 8 cities reveal that the quantum-only approach produces solutions up to 21.7% worse than the classical baseline, while the hybrid method reduces this cost increase to 11.3% for 8 cities. This demonstrates that hybrid approaches improve solution quality compared to purely quantum methods but remain suboptimal compared to classical solvers. Despite current hardware limitations, these results highlight the potential of quantum-enhanced methods for combinatorial optimisation, paving the way for future advancements in scalable quantum computing frameworks.
title Hybrid Quantum-Classical Optimisation of Traveling Salesperson Problem
topic Quantum Physics
Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00219