Quantum Algorithms for Approximate Graph Isomorphism Testing

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteur principal: Kulkarni, Prateek P.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Kulkarni, Prateek P.
author_facet Kulkarni, Prateek P.
contents The graph isomorphism problem asks whether two graphs are identical up to vertex relabeling. While the exact problem admits quasi-polynomial-time classical algorithms, many applications in molecular comparison, noisy network analysis, and pattern recognition require a flexible notion of structural similarity. We study the quantum query complexity of approximate graph isomorphism testing, where two graphs on $n$ vertices drawn from the Erdős--Rényi distribution $\mathcal{G} (n,1/2)$ are considered approximately isomorphic if they can be made isomorphic by at most $k$ edge edits. We present a quantum algorithm based on MNRS quantum walk search over the product graph $Γ(G,H)$ of the two input graphs. When the graphs are approximately isomorphic, the quantum walk search detects vertex pairs belonging to a dense near isomorphic matching set; candidate pairings are then reconstructed via local consistency propagation and verified via a Grover-accelerated consistency check. We prove that this approach achieves query complexity $\mathcal{O}(n^{3/2} \log n/\varepsilon)$, where $\varepsilon$ parameterizes the approximation threshold. We complement this with an $Ω(n^2)$ classical lower bound for constant approximation, establishing a genuine polynomial quantum speedup in the query model. We extend the framework to spectral similarity measures based on graph Laplacian eigenvalues, as well as weighted and attributed graphs. Small-scale simulation results on quantum simulators for graphs with up to twenty vertices demonstrate compatibility with near-term quantum devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_02656
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum Algorithms for Approximate Graph Isomorphism Testing
Kulkarni, Prateek P.
Quantum Physics
Computational Complexity
The graph isomorphism problem asks whether two graphs are identical up to vertex relabeling. While the exact problem admits quasi-polynomial-time classical algorithms, many applications in molecular comparison, noisy network analysis, and pattern recognition require a flexible notion of structural similarity. We study the quantum query complexity of approximate graph isomorphism testing, where two graphs on $n$ vertices drawn from the Erdős--Rényi distribution $\mathcal{G} (n,1/2)$ are considered approximately isomorphic if they can be made isomorphic by at most $k$ edge edits. We present a quantum algorithm based on MNRS quantum walk search over the product graph $Γ(G,H)$ of the two input graphs. When the graphs are approximately isomorphic, the quantum walk search detects vertex pairs belonging to a dense near isomorphic matching set; candidate pairings are then reconstructed via local consistency propagation and verified via a Grover-accelerated consistency check. We prove that this approach achieves query complexity $\mathcal{O}(n^{3/2} \log n/\varepsilon)$, where $\varepsilon$ parameterizes the approximation threshold. We complement this with an $Ω(n^2)$ classical lower bound for constant approximation, establishing a genuine polynomial quantum speedup in the query model. We extend the framework to spectral similarity measures based on graph Laplacian eigenvalues, as well as weighted and attributed graphs. Small-scale simulation results on quantum simulators for graphs with up to twenty vertices demonstrate compatibility with near-term quantum devices.
title Quantum Algorithms for Approximate Graph Isomorphism Testing
topic Quantum Physics
Computational Complexity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.02656