30,555 research outputs found
The SOS Platform: Designing, Tuning and Statistically Benchmarking Optimisation Algorithms
open access articleWe present Stochastic Optimisation Software (SOS), a Java platform facilitating the algorithmic design process and the evaluation of metaheuristic optimisation algorithms. SOS reduces the burden of coding miscellaneous methods for dealing with several bothersome and time-demanding tasks such as parameter tuning, implementation of comparison algorithms and testbed problems, collecting and processing data to display results, measuring algorithmic overhead, etc. SOS provides numerous off-the-shelf methods including: (1) customised implementations of statistical tests, such as the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and the Holm–Bonferroni procedure, for comparing the performances of optimisation algorithms and automatically generating result tables in PDF and formats; (2) the implementation of an original advanced statistical routine for accurately comparing couples of stochastic optimisation algorithms; (3) the implementation of a novel testbed suite for continuous optimisation, derived from the IEEE CEC 2014 benchmark, allowing for controlled activation of the rotation on each testbed function. Moreover, we briefly comment on the current state of the literature in stochastic optimisation and highlight similarities shared by modern metaheuristics inspired by nature. We argue that the vast majority of these algorithms are simply a reformulation of the same methods and that metaheuristics for optimisation should be simply treated as stochastic processes with less emphasis on the inspiring metaphor behind them
Significance Relations for the Benchmarking of Meta-Heuristic Algorithms
The experimental analysis of meta-heuristic algorithm performance is usually
based on comparing average performance metric values over a set of algorithm
instances. When algorithms getting tight in performance gains, the additional
consideration of significance of a metric improvement comes into play. However,
from this moment the comparison changes from an absolute to a relative mode.
Here the implications of this paradigm shift are investigated. Significance
relations are formally established. Based on this, a trade-off between
increasing cycle-freeness of the relation and small maximum sets can be
identified, allowing for the selection of a proper significance level and
resulting ranking of a set of algorithms. The procedure is exemplified on the
CEC'05 benchmark of real parameter single objective optimization problems. The
significance relation here is based on awarding ranking points for relative
performance gains, similar to the Borda count voting method or the Wilcoxon
signed rank test. In the particular CEC'05 case, five ranks for algorithm
performance can be clearly identified.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl
A generative modeling approach for benchmarking and training shallow quantum circuits
Hybrid quantum-classical algorithms provide ways to use noisy
intermediate-scale quantum computers for practical applications. Expanding the
portfolio of such techniques, we propose a quantum circuit learning algorithm
that can be used to assist the characterization of quantum devices and to train
shallow circuits for generative tasks. The procedure leverages quantum hardware
capabilities to its fullest extent by using native gates and their qubit
connectivity. We demonstrate that our approach can learn an optimal preparation
of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, also known as "cat states". We
further demonstrate that our approach can efficiently prepare approximate
representations of coherent thermal states, wave functions that encode
Boltzmann probabilities in their amplitudes. Finally, complementing proposals
to characterize the power or usefulness of near-term quantum devices, such as
IBM's quantum volume, we provide a new hardware-independent metric called the
qBAS score. It is based on the performance yield in a specific sampling task on
one of the canonical machine learning data sets known as Bars and Stripes. We
show how entanglement is a key ingredient in encoding the patterns of this data
set; an ideal benchmark for testing hardware starting at four qubits and up. We
provide experimental results and evaluation of this metric to probe the trade
off between several architectural circuit designs and circuit depths on an
ion-trap quantum computer.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. Minor revisions. As published in npj Quantum
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