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Many real-world problems can be reduced to combinatorial optimization on a graph, where the subset or ordering of vertices that maximize some objective function must be found. With such tasks often NP-hard and analytically intractable,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-03-22 Thomas D. Barrett , William R. Clements , Jakob N. Foerster , A. I. Lvovsky

We study the generalization capability of Unsupervised Learning in solving the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). We use a Graph Neural Network (GNN) trained with a surrogate loss function to generate an embedding for each node. We use…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-11-20 Yimeng Min , Carla P. Gomes

While there are optimal TSP solvers, as well as recent learning-based approaches, the generalization of the TSP to the Multiple Traveling Salesmen Problem is much less studied. Here, we design a neural network solution that treats the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-02-18 Yoav Kaempfer , Lior Wolf

Combinatorial optimization serves as an essential part in many modern industrial applications. A great number of the problems are offline setting due to safety and/or cost issues. While simulation-based approaches appear difficult to…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-07-21 Wenpeng Wei , Toshiko Aizono

We study combinatorial problems with real world applications such as machine scheduling, routing, and assignment. We propose a method that combines Reinforcement Learning (RL) and planning. This method can equally be applied to both the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-05-19 Joel Oren , Chana Ross , Maksym Lefarov , Felix Richter , Ayal Taitler , Zohar Feldman , Christian Daniel , Dotan Di Castro

The field of neural combinatorial optimization (NCO) trains neural policies to solve NP-hard problems such as the traveling salesperson problem (TSP). We ask whether, beyond producing good tours, a trained TSP solver learns internal…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-10 Reuben Narad , Léonard Boussioux , Michael Wagner

We demonstrate that a single training trajectory can transform a graph neural network into an unsupervised heuristic for combinatorial optimization. Focusing on the Travelling Salesman Problem, we show that encoding global structural…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-02-03 Yimeng Min , Carla P. Gomes

This work presents a tensor-network formulation of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and several of its variants. The approach represents candidate tours with tensor-network layers, weights them by Boltzmann factors, and enforces…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-18 Alejandro Mata Ali , Iñigo Perez Delgado , Aitor Moreno Fdez. de Leceta

Meta-heuristics are frequently used to tackle NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. With this paper we contribute to the understanding of the success of 2-opt based local search algorithms for solving the traveling salesman problem…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2012-08-14 Olaf Mersmann , Bernd Bischl , Heike Trautmann , Markus Wagner , Frank Neumann

In this work we introduce an evolutionary strategy to solve combinatorial optimization tasks, i.e. problems characterized by a discrete search space. In particular, we focus on the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), i.e. a famous problem…

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Physics 2016-08-05 Marco Alberto Javarone

We show that the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and its many variants may be modeled as functional optimization problems over a graph. In this formulation, all vertices and arcs of the graph are functionals; i.e., a mapping from a space…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-05-08 I. M. Ross , R. J. Proulx , M. Karpenko

Quantum Computing (QC) stands to revolutionize computing, but is currently still limited. To develop and test quantum algorithms today, quantum circuits are often simulated on classical computers. Simulating a complex quantum circuit…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-04-21 Eli A. Meirom , Haggai Maron , Shie Mannor , Gal Chechik

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) of space trajectory design is complicated by its complex structure design space. The graph based tree search and stochastic seeding combinatorial approaches are commonly employed to tackle the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-09-07 Liqiang Hou , Shufan Wu , Zhongcheng Mu , Meilin Liu

Many real-world optimization problems have multiple interacting components. Each of these can be NP-hard and they can be in conflict with each other, i.e., the optimal solution for one component does not necessarily represent an optimal…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2021-09-13 Jonatas B. C. Chagas , Markus Wagner

Machine learning has increasingly been employed to solve NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems, resulting in the emergence of neural solvers that demonstrate remarkable performance, even with minimal domain-specific knowledge. To…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-05-27 Chengrui Gao , Haopu Shang , Ke Xue , Chao Qian

Combinatorial Optimization underpins many real-world applications and yet, designing performant algorithms to solve these complex, typically NP-hard, problems remains a significant research challenge. Reinforcement Learning (RL) provides a…

This thesis concerns the use of reinforcement learning to train neural networks to aid in the design of public transit networks. The Transit Network Design Problem (TNDP) is an optimization problem of considerable practical importance.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-26 Andrew Holliday

The development of a satisfying and rigorous mathematical understanding of the performance of neural networks is a major challenge in artificial intelligence. Against this background, we study the expressive power of neural networks through…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-07-12 Christoph Hertrich , Martin Skutella

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem that aims to find the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the starting point. This paper explores the application…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2025-01-28 Kael Silva Araújo , Francisco Márcio Barboza

We study the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) on the metric completion of cubic and subcubic graphs, which is known to be NP-hard. The problem is of interest because of its relation to the famous 4/3 conjecture for metric TSP, which says…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2011-07-07 Sylvia Boyd , René Sitters , Suzanne van der Ster , Leen Stougie