Quantum Computing Optimization
Quantum computing (QC) harnesses the properties of subatomic particles to perform computations in a fundamentally different way than classical computing. It is widely established that QC can, in the future, revolutionize the way we perform and think about computation, and be the backbone of thrilling new technologies and products. Governments of countries like US, Canada, China, are already investing hundreds of millions of dollars annually to accelerate the developments of QC technologies, including the exploration of a myriad of potential applications.
In particular, QC has the potential to radically transform our capability to solve extremely difficult combinatorial optimization (COPT) problems for which no traditional numerical or theoretical efficient solution algorithms exist, as well as the potential to substantially speed up the solution of convex optimization problems that arise ubiquitously in practice. In fact, evidencing this potential is one of the main avenues that is being pursued to show ``quantum supremacy’’; that is showing that quantum computers can substantially outperform classical computers in the near future. However, there is a remarkable lack of research in QC from operations research (OR) investigators, who focus on the development of solution methodologies for these and other classes of optimization problems.
Motivated by these facts, optimization experts at the ISE Department, Lehigh University have taken the challenge of evidencing the potential power of quantum computers to solve optimization problems. The focus is on three main areas: (i) solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum computers, (ii) solving convex optimization problems using quantum computers, and more specifically, designing interior point methods that can be implemented on quantum computers, (iii) error modeling and designing error mitigation and correction methodologies that are appropriate for quantum computers. Advances in these directions will greatly contribute to the grand challenge of evidencing “quantum supremacy”.
Lehigh's research groups / institutes / programs:
Quantum Computing and Optimization Laboratory (QCOL)