Landscape Encodings Enhance Optimization

Hard combinatorial optimization problems deal with the search for the minimum cost solutions (ground states) of discrete systems under strong constraints. A transformation of state variables may enhance computational tractability. It has been argued that these state encodings are to be chosen invertible to retain the original size of the state space. Here we show how redundant non-invertible encodings enhance optimization by enriching the density of low-energy states. In addition, smooth landscapes may be established on encoded state spaces to guide local search dynamics towards the ground state

Cover-Encodings of Fitness Landscapes

The traditional way of tackling discrete optimization problems is by using local search on suitably defined cost or fitness landscapes. Such approaches are however limited by the slowing down that occurs when the local minima that are a feature of the typically rugged landscapes encountered arrest the progress of the search process. Another way of tackling optimization problems is by the use of heuristic approximations to estimate a global cost minimum. Here we present a combination of these two approaches by using cover-encoding maps which map processes from a larger search space to subsets of the original search space. The key idea is to construct cover-encoding maps with the help of suitable heuristics that single out near-optimal solutions and result in landscapes on the larger search space that no longer exhibit trapping local minima. We present cover-encoding maps for the problems of the traveling salesman, number partitioning, maximum matching and maximum clique; the practical feasibility of our method is demonstrated by simulations of adaptive walks on the corresponding encoded landscapes which find the global minima for these problems.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Mathematical Interpretation between Genotype and Phenotype Spaces and Induced Geometric Crossovers

In this paper, we present that genotype-phenotype mapping can be theoretically interpreted using the concept of quotient space in mathematics. Quotient space can be considered as mathematically-defined phenotype space in the evolutionary computation theory. The quotient geometric crossover has the effect of reducing the search space actually searched by geometric crossover, and it introduces problem knowledge in the search by using a distance better tailored to the specific solution interpretation. Quotient geometric crossovers are directly applied to the genotype space but they have the effect of the crossovers performed on phenotype space. We give many example applications of the quotient geometric crossover