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The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) requires considered optimization problems to be translated into a compatible format. A popular transformation step in this pipeline involves the quadratization of higher-order binary…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-26 Damian Rovara , Lukas Burgholzer , Robert Wille

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a leading candidate algorithm for solving optimization problems on quantum computers. However, the potential of QAOA to tackle classically intractable problems remains unclear. Here,…

We study fundamental limitations of the generic Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) on constrained problems where valid solutions form a low dimensional manifold inside the Boolean hypercube, and we present a provable route to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-30 Chinonso Onah , Kristel Michielsen

We introduce a novel quantum optimization paradigm: the Fixed-Parameter-Count Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (FPC-QAOA). It is a scalable variational framework that maintains a constant number of trainable parameters regardless…

Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) hold great potentials for near-term applications and are promising to achieve quantum advantage on practical tasks. However, VQAs suffer from severe barren plateau problem as well as have a large…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-09-27 Shuo Liu , Shi-Xin Zhang , Shao-Kai Jian , Hong Yao

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) has numerous promising applications in solving the combinatorial optimization problems on near-term Noisy Intermediate Scalable Quantum (NISQ) devices. QAOA has a quantum-classical…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-02-17 Xinwei Lee , Yoshiyuki Saito , Dongsheng Cai , Nobuyoshi Asai

We embed 1-layer QAOA circuits into the larger class of parameterized Instantaneous Quantum Polynomial circuits to produce an improved variational quantum algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems. The use of analytic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-02-13 Sebastian Leontica , David Amaro

Quantum optimization allows for up to exponential quantum speedups for specific, possibly industrially relevant problems. As the key algorithm in this field, we motivate and discuss the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA),…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-18 Jonas Stein , Maximilian Zorn , Leo Sünkel , Thomas Gabor

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is an algorithmic framework for finding approximate solutions to combinatorial optimization problems, derived from an approximation to the Quantum Adiabatic Algorithm (QAA). In solving…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-02-05 Yue Ruan , Samuel Marsh , Xilin Xue , Xi Li , Zhihao Liu , Jingbo Wang

The performance of the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA) relies on the setting of optimal parameters in each layer of the circuit. This is no trivial task, and much literature has focused on the challenge of finding optimal…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-02-14 Vivek Katial , Kate Smith-Miles , Charles Hill

Barren plateaus are a notorious problem in the optimization of variational quantum algorithms and pose a critical obstacle in the quest for more efficient quantum machine learning algorithms. Many potential reasons for barren plateaus have…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-05-02 Ankit Kulshrestha , Ilya Safro

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) uses a quantum computer to implement a variational method with $2p$ layers of alternating unitary operators, optimized by a classical computer to minimize a cost function. While rigorous…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-11-19 Raimel A. Medina , Maksym Serbyn

The Quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is one of the most promising candidates for achieving quantum advantage through quantum-enhanced combinatorial optimization. In a typical QAOA setup, a set of quantum circuit parameters…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-06-15 Alexey Galda , Xiaoyuan Liu , Danylo Lykov , Yuri Alexeev , Ilya Safro

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a prospective near-term quantum algorithm due to its modest circuit depth and promising benchmarks. However, an external parameter optimization required in QAOA could become a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-01-26 Stefan H. Sack , Maksym Serbyn

Quantum Computing promises to solve complex combinatorial optimization problems more efficiently than classical methods, with the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) being a leading candidate. Recent fixed-parameter variations…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-03-04 Rodrigo Coelho , Georg Kruse , Jeanette Miriam Lorenz

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is an approach for near-term quantum computers to potentially demonstrate computational advantage in solving combinatorial optimization problems. However, the viability of the QAOA…

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is a leading approach for combinatorial optimization on near-term quantum devices, yet its scalability is limited by the difficulty of optimizing \(2p\) variational parameters for a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-02-17 Ugo Nzongani , Dylan Laplace Mermoud , Arthur Braida

Quantum alternating operator ansatz (QAOA) has a strong connection to the adiabatic algorithm, which it can approximate with sufficient depth. However, it is unclear to what extent the lessons from the adiabatic regime apply to QAOA as…

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a variational method for noisy, intermediate-scale quantum computers to solve combinatorial optimization problems. Quantifying performance bounds with respect to specific problem…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-11-30 Phillip C. Lotshaw , Travis S. Humble , Rebekah Herrman , James Ostrowski , George Siopsis

Barren plateaus, which means the training gradients become extremely small, pose a major challenge in optimizing parameterized quantum circuits, often making the learning process impractically slow or stall. This work shows why using neural…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-12-03 Zhehao Yi , Rahul Bhadani