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arXiv:2511.09841

Mapping Game Theory to Quantum Systems: Nash Equilibria via Neutral Atom Computing

Giovanni Ferrannini, Dario di Gregorio, Federico Fissore

quant-phSubmitted Nov 13, 2025• Announced Nov 14, 2025• 0 citations
v1 · Nov 13, 2025v2 · Oct 4, 2026
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Abstract

Nash equilibria are crucial for understanding game behavior and systems in economics, physics, biology, and computer science. A significant application arises from the connection between Nash equilibria and optimization problems . However, finding Nash equilibria is challenging due to its NP-Hard complexity, specifically within the PPAD class. By exploiting the correspondence between Maximum Independent Sets (MIS) and Nash equilibria on unit-disk graphs, we map these problems onto the ground state configurations of Rydberg atom arrays. Simulations show the effectiveness of this quantum method, highlighting its potential for solving complex problems in game theory.

Comments
8 pages, 8 figures, Revised from the IEEE R8 Student Paper Contest 2025 submission

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Nash equilibria are crucial for understanding game behavior and systems in economics, physics, biology, and computer science. A significant application arises from the connection between Nash equilibria and optimization problems . However, finding Nash equilibria is challenging due to its NP-Hard complexity, specifically within the PPAD class. By exploiting the correspondence between Maximum Independent Sets (MIS) and Nash equilibria on unit-disk graphs, we map these problems onto the ground state configurations of Rydberg atom arrays. Simulations show the effectiveness of this quantum method, highlighting its potential for solving complex problems in game theory.
In wireless communication networks, many resource optimization problems are nondeterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) due to their combinatorial nature and high computational complexity. Recently, neutral-atom-based quantum computing has emerged as a promising platform for efficiently solving such problems by leveraging quantum superposition and entanglement. However, its application to wireless communication optimization problems remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we investigate the use of neutral-atom quantum platforms to solve the maximum access problem (MAP), formulated as a mixed-integer programming task that jointly considers admission control, user clustering, channel assignment, and power allocation in a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-enabled uplink network. To reduce the computational burden, the MAP is equivalently reformulated as a maximum independent set (MIS) problem in graph theory. This reformulation enables the use of the neutral atom platform based on Rydberg atom arrays, where the MIS problem is naturally encoded into the physical geometry and blockade constraints of the quantum system. Numerical results demonstrate the feasibility and potential of this approach for addressing large-scale wireless resource optimization problems.
This paper is concerned with complexity theoretic aspects of a general formulation of quantum game theory that models strategic interactions among rational agents that process and exchange quantum information. In particular, we prove that the computational problem of finding an approximate Nash equilibrium in a broad class of quantum games is, like the analogous problem for classical games, included in (and therefore complete for) the complexity class PPAD. Our main technical contribution, which facilitates this inclusion, is an extension of prior methods in computational game theory to strategy spaces that are characterized by semidefinite programs.
Programmable quantum systems based on Rydberg atom arrays have recently been used for hardwareefficient tests of quantum optimization algorithms [Ebadi et al., Science, 376, 1209 (2022)] with hundreds of qubits.In particular, the maximum independent set problem on so-called unit-disk graphs, was shown to be efficiently encodable in such a quantum system.Here, we extend the classes of problems that can be efficiently encoded in Rydberg arrays by constructing explicit mappings from a wide class of problems to maximum-weighted independent set problems on unit-disk graphs, with at most a quadratic overhead in the number of qubits.We analyze several examples, including maximum-weighted independent set on graphs with arbitrary connectivity, quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems with arbitrary or restricted connectivity, and integer factorization.Numerical simulations on small system sizes indicate that the adiabatic time scale for solving the mapped problems is strongly correlated with that of the original problems.Our work provides a blueprint for using Rydberg atom arrays to solve a wide range of combinatorial optimization problems with arbitrary connectivity, beyond the restrictions imposed by the hardware geometry.
Game theory is a well established field with applications in many areas including the social sciences, biology, and computer science [6]. Recently, however, researchers in quantum computation have begun to study the implications of games set in the quantum domain (i.e. game theoretical situations where either one or more players have quantum computational power or where the implementation of strategies uses some form of quantum information). Such a setting allows for entanglement and superpositions of strategies and evaluation of payoffs using quantum measurement. This approach to game theory, according to some scholars in the field, could help us understand certain physical systems, improve economic markets, and develop quantum algorithms. I have conducted an investigation into quantum game theory. I have constructed simulation tools using Maple that, along with research into related work, have helped gain some insight into this new field. The important solutions in classical game theory are usually Nash equilibria. What do they look like in the quantum realm? In what
We describe and analyze an architecture for quantum optimization to solve maximum independent set (MIS) problems using neutral atom arrays trapped in optical tweezers. Optimizing independent sets is one of the paradigmatic, NP-hard problems in computer science. Our approach is based on coherent manipulation of atom arrays via the excitation into Rydberg atomic states. Specifically, we show that solutions of MIS problems can be efficiently encoded in the ground state of interacting atoms in 2D arrays by utilizing the Rydberg blockade mechanism. By studying the performance of leading classical algorithms, we identify parameter regimes, where computationally hard instances can be tested using near-term experimental systems. Practical implementations of both quantum annealing and variational quantum optimization algorithms beyond the adiabatic principle are discussed.
Recent progress in quantum computing and quantum simulation of many-body systems with arrays of neutral atoms using Rydberg excitation has provided unforeseen opportunities towards computational advantage in solving various optimization problems. The problem of a maximum-weight independent set of unit-disk graphs is an example of an NP-hard optimization problem. It involves finding the largest set of vertices with the maximum sum of their weights for a graph which has edges connecting all pairs of vertices within a unit distance. This problem can be solved using quantum annealing with an array of interacting Rydberg atoms. For a particular graph, a spatial arrangement of atoms represents vertices of the graph, while the detuning from resonance at Rydberg excitation defines the weights of these vertices. The edges of the graph can be drawn according to the unit-disk criterion. Maximum-weight independent sets can be obtained by applying a variational quantum adiabatic algorithm. We consider driving the quantum system of interacting atoms to the many-body ground state using a nonlinear quasiadiabatic profile for sweeping the Rydberg detuning. We also propose using a quantum wire, which is a set of auxiliary atoms of a different chemical element, to mediate strong coupling between the remote vertices of the graph. We investigate this effect for different lengths of the quantum wire. We also investigate the quantum phases of matter realizing commensurate and incommensurate phases in one- and two-dimensional spatial arrangements of the atomic array.