A note on QUBO instances defined on Chimera graphs

McGeoch and Wang (2013) recently obtained optimal or near-optimal solutions to some quadratic unconstrained boolean optimization (QUBO) problem instances using a 439 qubit D-Wave Two quantum computing system in much less time than with the IBM ILOG CPLEX mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) solver. The problems studied by McGeoch and Wang are defined on subgraphs -- with up to 439 nodes -- of Chimera graphs. We observe that after a standard reformulation of the QUBO problem as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP), the specific instances used by McGeoch and Wang can be solved to optimality with the CPLEX MILP solver in much less time than the time reported in McGeoch and Wang for the CPLEX MIQP solver. However, the solution time is still more than the time taken by the D-Wave computer in the McGeoch-Wang tests.Comment: Version 1 discussed computational results with random QUBO instances. McGeoch and Wang made an error in describing the instances they used; they did not use random QUBO instances but rather random Ising Model instances with fields (mapped to QUBO instances). The current version of the note reports on tests with the precise instances used by McGeoch and Wan

Readiness of Quantum Optimization Machines for Industrial Applications

There have been multiple attempts to demonstrate that quantum annealing and, in particular, quantum annealing on quantum annealing machines, has the potential to outperform current classical optimization algorithms implemented on CMOS technologies. The benchmarking of these devices has been controversial. Initially, random spin-glass problems were used, however, these were quickly shown to be not well suited to detect any quantum speedup. Subsequently, benchmarking shifted to carefully crafted synthetic problems designed to highlight the quantum nature of the hardware while (often) ensuring that classical optimization techniques do not perform well on them. Even worse, to date a true sign of improved scaling with the number of problem variables remains elusive when compared to classical optimization techniques. Here, we analyze the readiness of quantum annealing machines for real-world application problems. These are typically not random and have an underlying structure that is hard to capture in synthetic benchmarks, thus posing unexpected challenges for optimization techniques, both classical and quantum alike. We present a comprehensive computational scaling analysis of fault diagnosis in digital circuits, considering architectures beyond D-wave quantum annealers. We find that the instances generated from real data in multiplier circuits are harder than other representative random spin-glass benchmarks with a comparable number of variables. Although our results show that transverse-field quantum annealing is outperformed by state-of-the-art classical optimization algorithms, these benchmark instances are hard and small in the size of the input, therefore representing the first industrial application ideally suited for testing near-term quantum annealers and other quantum algorithmic strategies for optimization problems.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures. Content updated according to Phys. Rev. Applied versio

Performance Models for Split-execution Computing Systems

Split-execution computing leverages the capabilities of multiple computational models to solve problems, but splitting program execution across different computational models incurs costs associated with the translation between domains. We analyze the performance of a split-execution computing system developed from conventional and quantum processing units (QPUs) by using behavioral models that track resource usage. We focus on asymmetric processing models built using conventional CPUs and a family of special-purpose QPUs that employ quantum computing principles. Our performance models account for the translation of a classical optimization problem into the physical representation required by the quantum processor while also accounting for hardware limitations and conventional processor speed and memory. We conclude that the bottleneck in this split-execution computing system lies at the quantum-classical interface and that the primary time cost is independent of quantum processor behavior.Comment: Presented at 18th Workshop on Advances in Parallel and Distributed Computational Models [APDCM2016] on 23 May 2016; 10 page