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Main Authors: Bennett, Tavis, Smith, Aidan, Matwiejew, Edric, Wang, Jingbo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24191
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author Bennett, Tavis
Smith, Aidan
Matwiejew, Edric
Wang, Jingbo
author_facet Bennett, Tavis
Smith, Aidan
Matwiejew, Edric
Wang, Jingbo
contents We present benchmarking results for the non-variational Quantum Walk Optimisation Algorithm (non-variational QWOA) applied to the weighted maxcut problem, using classical simulations for problem sizes up to $n = 31$. The amplified quantum state, prepared using a quadratic number of alternating unitaries, achieves a constant average-case measurement probability for globally optimal solutions across these problem sizes. This behaviour contrasts with that of classical heuristics, which, for NP-hard optimisation problems, typically exhibit solve probabilities that decay as problem size increases. Performance comparisons with two local-search heuristics on the same benchmark instances suggest that the non-variational QWOA may offer a meaningful advantage by scaling more favourably with problem size. These results provide supporting evidence for the potential of this quantum heuristic to achieve quantum advantage, though further work is needed to assess whether the observed performance scaling persists at larger problem sizes, and to confirm whether similar performance trends are observed for the other problem classes to which the non-variational QWOA is designed to generalise.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_24191
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Benchmarking Quantum Heuristics: Non-Variational QWOA for Weighted Maxcut
Bennett, Tavis
Smith, Aidan
Matwiejew, Edric
Wang, Jingbo
Quantum Physics
Computational Physics
We present benchmarking results for the non-variational Quantum Walk Optimisation Algorithm (non-variational QWOA) applied to the weighted maxcut problem, using classical simulations for problem sizes up to $n = 31$. The amplified quantum state, prepared using a quadratic number of alternating unitaries, achieves a constant average-case measurement probability for globally optimal solutions across these problem sizes. This behaviour contrasts with that of classical heuristics, which, for NP-hard optimisation problems, typically exhibit solve probabilities that decay as problem size increases. Performance comparisons with two local-search heuristics on the same benchmark instances suggest that the non-variational QWOA may offer a meaningful advantage by scaling more favourably with problem size. These results provide supporting evidence for the potential of this quantum heuristic to achieve quantum advantage, though further work is needed to assess whether the observed performance scaling persists at larger problem sizes, and to confirm whether similar performance trends are observed for the other problem classes to which the non-variational QWOA is designed to generalise.
title Benchmarking Quantum Heuristics: Non-Variational QWOA for Weighted Maxcut
topic Quantum Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24191