Quantum approximate multi-objective optimization.

Kotil, Ayse; Pelofske, Elijah; Riedmüller, Stephanie; Egger, Daniel J; Eidenbenz, Stephan; Koch, Thorsten; Woerner, Stefan · Nat Comput Sci · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The goal of multi-objective optimization is to understand optimal trade-offs between competing objective functions by finding the Pareto front, that is, the set of all Pareto-optimal solutions, where no objective can be improved without degrading another one. Multi-objective optimization can be challenging classically, even if the corresponding single-objective optimization problems are efficiently solvable. Thus, multi-objective optimization represents a compelling problem class to analyze with quantum computers. Here we use a low-depth quantum approximate optimization algorithm to approximate the optimal Pareto front of certain multi-objective weighted maximum-cut problems. We demonstrate its performance on an IBM Quantum computer, as well as with matrix product state numerical simulation, and show its potential to outperform classical approaches.