Search

In this article, we propose new formulations of max-sum and max-min dispersion problems that enable solutions via the Grover adaptive search (GAS) quantum algorithm, offering quadratic speedup. Dispersion problems are combinatorial optimization problems classified as NP-hard, which appear often in coding theory and wireless communications applications involving optimal codebook design. In turn, GAS is a quantum exhaustive search algorithm that can be used to implement full-fledged maximum-likelihood optimal solutions. In conventional naive formulations, however, it is typical to rely on a binary vector spaces, resulting in search space sizes prohibitive even for GAS. To circumvent this challenge, we instead formulate the search of optimal dispersion problem over Dicke states, an equal superposition of binary vectors with equal Hamming weights, which significantly reduces the search space leading to a simplification of the quantum circuit via the elimination of penalty terms. In addition, we propose a method to replace distance coefficients with their ranks, contributing to the reduction of the number of qubits. Our analysis demonstrates that as a result of the proposed techniques, a reduction in query complexity compared to the conventional GAS using the Hadamard transform is achieved, enhancing the feasibility of the quantum-based solution of the dispersion problem.

Grover adaptive search (GAS) is a quantum exhaustive search algorithm designed to solve binary optimization problems. In this article, we propose higher order binary formulations that can simultaneously reduce the numbers of qubits and gates required for GAS. Specifically, we consider two novel strategies: one that reduces the number of gates through polynomial factorization, and the other that halves the order of the objective function, subsequently decreasing circuit runtime and implementation cost. Our analysis demonstrates that the proposed higher order formulations improve the convergence performance of GAS by reducing both the search space size and the number of quantum gates. Our strategies are also beneficial for general combinatorial optimization problems using one-hot encoding.

In this article, we propose a novel method of formulating an NP-hard wireless channel assignment problem as a higher-order unconstrained binary optimization (HUBO), where the Grover adaptive search (GAS) is used to provide a quadratic speedup for solving the problem. The conventional method relies on a one-hot encoding of the channel indices, resulting in a quadratic formulation. By contrast, we conceive ascending and descending binary encodings of the channel indices, construct a specific quantum circuit, and derive the exact numbers of qubits and gates required by GAS. Our analysis clarifies that the proposed HUBO formulation significantly reduces the number of qubits and the query complexity compared with the conventional quadratic formulation. This advantage is achieved at the cost of an increased number of quantum gates, which we demonstrate can be reduced by our proposed descending binary encoding.