A note on quantum approximate optimization algorithm

Zhengjun Cao

Paper 2023/1854

A note on quantum approximate optimization algorithm

Zhengjun Cao

Abstract

The general quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) produces approximate solutions for combinatorial optimization problems. The algorithm depends on a positive integer $p$ and the quality of approximation improves as $p$ is increased. In this note, we put some questions about the general QAOA. We also find the recursive QAOA for MaxCut problem is flawed because all quantum gates involved in the algorithm are single qubit gates. No any entangling gate is used, which results in that the quantum computing power cannot be certified for the problem.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Foundations
Publication info: Preprint.
Keywords: Combinatorial optimization QAOA RQAOA MaxCut Computational basis Uniform superposition
Contact author(s): caozhj @ shu edu cn
History: 2023-12-04: approved; 2023-12-03: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2023/1854
License: CC0

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2023/1854,
      author = {Zhengjun Cao},
      title = {A note on quantum approximate optimization algorithm},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2023/1854},
      year = {2023},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1854}
}