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arXiv:2410.05187 · PRX Quantum

Analyzing the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm: Ansätze, Symmetries, and Lie Algebras

Sujay Kazi, Martín Larocca, Marco Andrés Farinati, Patrick J. Coles, Marco Cerezo, Robert Zeier

Published Oct 14, 2025• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) has been proposed as a method to obtain approximate solutions for combinatorial optimization tasks. In this work, we study the underlying algebraic properties of three QAOA ansätze for the maximum-cut problem on connected graphs, while focusing on the generated Lie algebras as well as their invariant subspaces. Specifically, we analyze the standard QAOA ansatz as well as the orbit and multiangle ansätze. We are able to fully characterize the Lie algebras of the multiangle ansatz across arbitrary connected graphs, finding that they only fall into one of just six families. Aside from the cycle and path graphs, the Lie dimensions for every graph are exponentially large in the system size, meaning that multiangle ansätze are extremely prone to exhibiting barren plateaus. Then, a similar quasi-graph-independent Lie-algebraic characterization beyond the multiangle ansatz is impeded as the circuit exhibits additional “hidden” symmetries besides those naturally arising from a certain parity-superselection operator and all automorphisms of the considered graph. Disregarding the “hidden” symmetries, we can upper bound the dimensions of the orbit and the standard Lie algebras, and the dimensions of the associated invariant subspaces are determined via explicit character formulas. To finish, we conjecture that (for most graphs) the standard Lie algebras have only components that are either exponential or that grow, at most, polynomially with the system size. This would imply that the QAOA is either prone to barren plateaus or classically simulable. More generally, our work provides a symmetry framework and tools to analyze any desired variational quantum algorithm.

DOI
10.1103/yfwq-yqmk

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The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) has been proposed as a method to obtain approximate solutions for combinatorial optimization tasks. In this work, we study the underlying algebraic properties of three QAOA ansätze for the maximum-cut problem on connected graphs, while focusing on the generated Lie algebras as well as their invariant subspaces. Specifically, we analyze the standard QAOA ansatz as well as the orbit and multiangle ansätze. We are able to fully characterize the Lie algebras of the multiangle ansatz across arbitrary connected graphs, finding that they only fall into one of just six families. Aside from the cycle and path graphs, the Lie dimensions for every graph are exponentially large in the system size, meaning that multiangle ansätze are extremely prone to exhibiting barren plateaus. Then, a similar quasi-graph-independent Lie-algebraic characterization beyond the multiangle ansatz is impeded as the circuit exhibits additional “hidden” symmetries besides those naturally arising from a certain parity-superselection operator and all automorphisms of the considered graph. Disregarding the “hidden” symmetries, we can upper bound the dimensions of the orbit and the standard Lie algebras, and the dimensions of the associated invariant subspaces are determined via explicit character formulas. To finish, we conjecture that (for most graphs) the standard Lie algebras have only components that are either exponential or that grow, at most, polynomially with the system size. This would imply that the QAOA is either prone to barren plateaus or classically simulable. More generally, our work provides a symmetry framework and tools to analyze any desired variational quantum algorithm.
Dynamical Lie algebras (DLAs) have emerged as a valuable tool in the study of parameterized quantum circuits, helping to characterize both their expressiveness and trainability. In particular, the absence or presence of barren plateaus (BPs) – flat regions in parameter space that prevent the efficient training of variational quantum algorithms – has recently been shown to be intimately related to quantities derived from the associated DLA.In this work, we investigate DLAs for the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA), one of the most studied variational quantum algorithms for solving graph MaxCut and other combinatorial optimization problems. While DLAs for QAOA circuits have been studied before, existing results have either been based on numerical evidence, or else correspond to DLA generators specifically chosen to be universal for quantum computation on a subspace of states. We initiate an analytical study of barren plateaus and other statistics of QAOA algorithms, and give bounds on the dimensions of the corresponding DLAs and their centers for general graphs. We then focus on the n -vertex cycle and complete graphs. For the cycle graph we give an explicit basis, identify its decomposition into the direct sum of a 2 -dimensional center and a semisimple component isomorphic to n − 1 copies of s u ( 2 ) . We give an explicit basis for this isomorphism, and a closed-form expression for the variance of the cost function, proving the absence of BPs. For the complete graph we prove that the dimension of the DLA is O ( n 3 ) and give an explicit basis for the DLA.
The performance of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is closely tied to the structure of the dynamical Lie algebra (DLA) generated by its Hamiltonians, which determines both its expressivity and trainability. In this work, we show that classical symmetries can be systematically exploited as a design principle for QAOA. Focusing on the MaxCut problem with global bit-flip symmetry, we analyze reduced QAOA instances obtained by fixing a single variable and study how this choice affects the associated DLAs. We show that the structure of the DLAs can change dramatically depending on which variable is held fixed. In particular, we construct explicit examples where the dimension collapses from exponential to quadratic, uncovering phenomena that do not appear in the original formulation. Numerical experiments on asymmetric graphs indicate that such reductions often produce DLAs of much smaller dimension, suggesting improved trainability. We also prove that any graph can be embedded into a slightly larger one (requiring only quadratic overhead) such that the standard reduced DLA coincides with the free reduced DLA, in most cases implying exponential dimension and irreducibility on the Hilbert space for reduced QAOA instances. These results establish symmetry-aware reduction as a principled tool for designing expressive and potentially trainable QAOA circuits.
Classically equivalent formulations of an optimization problem need not lead to equivalent quantum algorithms. For MaxCut, fixing the value of a single vertex removes a simple global symmetry without changing the underlying optimization problem, yet it can substantially alter the quantum dynamics generated by the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). These dynamics are captured by the circuit's dynamical Lie algebra (DLA), whose direct construction can become exponentially expensive. Here we show that, for symmetry-reduced QAOA on trees, substantial information about the reduced DLA can instead be obtained efficiently from the graph alone. We introduce a polynomial classical algorithm that recursively distinguishes vertices using shortest path structure and degree parity. When all vertices are resolved individually, the method determines the complete reduced DLA and, under the corresponding graph conditions, certifies maximal expressibility of the reduced QAOA ansatz. Even when full resolution is not achieved, the algorithm identifies embedded subalgebras, provides rigorous lower bounds on DLA dimension, and certifies controllable subsystems. Our theoretical and experimental results show how classical graph structure can be used to diagnose and potentially guide the quantum dynamics of variational algorithms before running them on quantum hardware.
The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is a variational quantum algorithm that can be used to approximately solve combinatorial optimization problems. However, a major limitation of QAOA is that it is a "local" algorithm for finite circuit depths, meaning it can only optimize over local properties of the graph. In this paper, we present Phantom-Qaoa, a new QAOA ansatz that introduces only one additional parameter to the standard ansatz—regardless of system size—allowing QAOA to "see" more of the graph at a given depth p. We achieve this by modifying the target graph to include additional α-weighted edges, with α serving as a tunable parameter. This modified graph is then used to construct the phase operator and allows QAOA to explore a wider range of the graph’s features. We derive a general formula for our new ansatz at p = 1 and analytically show an improvement in the approximation ratio for cycle graphs. We also provide numerical experiments that demonstrate significant improvements in the approximation ratio for the Max-Cut problem over the standard QAOA ansatz for p = 1 and p = 2 on random regular graphs up to 16 nodes.
The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) promises to solve classically intractable computational problems in the area of combinatorial optimization. A growing amount of evidence suggests that the originally proposed form of the QAOA ansatz is not optimal, however. To address this problem, we propose an alternative ansatz, which we call QAOA+, that augments the traditional p=1 QAOA ansatz with an additional multiparameter problem-independent layer. The QAOA+ ansatz allows obtaining higher approximation ratios than p=1 QAOA while keeping the circuit depth below that of p = 2 QAOA, as benchmarked on the MaxCut problem for random regular graphs. We additionally show that the proposed QAOA+ ansatz, while using a larger number of trainable classical parameters than with the standard QAOA, in most cases outperforms alternative multiangle QAOA ansätze for fixed number of independent parameters.
The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is a leading candidate for achieving quantum advantage in combinatorial optimization on Near-Term Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. However, random initialization of the variational parameters typically leads to vanishing gradients, rendering standard variational optimization ineffective. This paper provides a comparative performance analysis of two distinct strategies designed to improve trainability: Lie algebraic pretraining framework that uses Lie-algebraic classical simulation to find near-optimal initializations, and non-variational QWOA (NV-QWOA) that targets a restrict parameter subspace covered by 3 hyperparameters. We benchmark both methods on the unweighted Maxcut problem using a circuit depth of p=256p = 256p=256 across 200 Erdős-Rényi and 200 3-regular graphs, each with 16 vertices. Both approaches significantly improve upon the standard randomly initialized QWOA. NV-QWOA attains a mean approximation ratio of 98.9\% in just 60 iterations, while the Lie-algebraic pretrained QWOA improves to 77.71\% after 500 iterations. That optimization proceeds more quickly for NV-QWOA is not surprising given its significantly smaller parameter space, however, that an algorithm with so few tunable parameters reliably finds near-optimal solutions is remarkable. These findings suggest that the structured parameterization of NV-QWOA offers a more robust training approach than pretraining on lower-dimensional auxiliary problems. Future work is needed to confirm scaling to larger problem sizes and to asses generalization to other problem classes.