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International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology

QUANTUM PATHFINDERS: NAVIGATE THE SHORTEST ROUTE

Mohammad Sahil, Sapna Jain, Jamia Hamdard

Published Apr 1, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The problem of finding the shortest path between two points in a graph is a fundamental problem in computer science and has many applications in fields such as transportation, logistics, and networking. Dijkstra's algorithm is a classical algorithm commonly used to solve this problem, but its time complexity can be prohibitively high for large graphs. Quantum computing, on the other hand, offers a promising approach to solving this problem with significantly improved time complexity. In this research paper, we explore the potential of quantum computing for solving the shortest path problem, including an overview of Dijkstra's algorithm and its limitations, the quantum computing approach using quantum phase estimation, and a comparison of the time complexities of classical and quantum algorithms. We also discuss the challenges that need to be addressed for quantum computing to realize its potential in solving practical shortest-path problems.

DOI
10.33564/ijeast.2023.v07i12.020

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The problem of finding the shortest path between two points in a graph is a fundamental problem in computer science and has many applications in fields such as transportation, logistics, and networking. Dijkstra's algorithm is a classical algorithm commonly used to solve this problem, but its time complexity can be prohibitively high for large graphs. Quantum computing, on the other hand, offers a promising approach to solving this problem with significantly improved time complexity. In this research paper, we explore the potential of quantum computing for solving the shortest path problem, including an overview of Dijkstra's algorithm and its limitations, the quantum computing approach using quantum phase estimation, and a comparison of the time complexities of classical and quantum algorithms. We also discuss the challenges that need to be addressed for quantum computing to realize its potential in solving practical shortest-path problems.
Algorithms and data structures are important in information technology (particularly in 6G terahertz wireless communications), logistics, transportation, and route planning in medicine. One of the fundamental algorithms that find application in many practical problems is the shortest path algorithm. The shortest path algorithm is used to find the optimal route between two vertices while minimizing the length or number of intermediate nodes. This problem is one of the 21 NP-hard problems formulated by Richard Karp in 1972. It still poses a serious challenge to science, since there is no polynomial algorithm that can provide an exact solution to this problem. The article considers approaches to solving the problem of finding the shortest path on a graph, and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. Various algorithms, such as the Bellman-Ford algorithm, Dijkstra, and the A* algorithm, are considered; their efficiency and applicability in various situations are analyzed. Issues of optimization of shortest path algorithms are discussed, such as the use of heuristics, graph preprocessing, and other methods that can improve the performance and accuracy of algorithms. The article proposes an optimization of Dijkstra’s algorithm with quantum acceleration. The stability of the quantum algorithm and the magnitude of distortions in a circuit with a different number of qubits are estimated. It is shown that with an increase in the intensity of distortions, the probability of detecting the desired element decreases, and the time spent on its search increases. When using Grover’s algorithm to optimize a path in a quantum network, these interferences cause an increase in the time it takes to find the optimal path and an increase in the probability of choosing an incorrect route. It is shown that an increase in the number of qubits and, accordingly, the number of iterations makes the algorithm more stable. It is demonstrated that the stability of Grover’s algorithm for circuits with a large number of qubits has a similar nature. The work of quantum circuits on 9, 10 and 11 qubits, the difference in the probabilities of correct operation differs by less than 10–3. Thus, from the obtained dependencies, it is possible to predict the nature of such an influence on circuits with an even larger number of qubits, the stability of which cannot be studied due to the insufficient computing power of classical computers. The most efficient way to modify Dijkstra’s algorithm is to replace the priority queue in the classical version of the algorithm with some quantum data structure that finds the minimum element for the next iteration of the algorithm. Despite the fact that quantum search does not provide a potential gain in asymptotics, another quantum modification of Dijkstra’s algorithm can be used. Namely, instead of maintaining and searching for a minimum in the priority queue, use the quantum algorithm immediately to search for a vertex that needs to be added to the shortest path tree, which will additionally acceleration the graph traversal by Dijkstra’s algorithm.
Quantum algorithms run on quantum computers are qualitatively different from those that run on classical computers. Quantum computing algorithms can be used for several problems in graph theory. Most of the classical algorithms involve searching over some space for finding the shortest-paths problem between two points in a graph and a minimal weight spanning tree. We modified classical Dijkstra's algorithm and implement quantum search instead of classical search, of which it will lead to more efficient algorithm. Also we proposed the structure for non-classical algorithms and design the various phases of the probabilistic quantum-classical algorithm for classical and quantum parts. Finally, we represent the result of implementing and simulating Dijkstra's algorithm as the probabilistic quantum-classical algorithm.
Classical algorithms have been used to search over some space for finding the shortest paths problem between two points in a network and a minimal weight spanning tree for routing. Any classical algorithm deterministic or probabilistic will clearly used O(N) steps since on the average it will measure a large fraction of N records. Quantum algorithm is the fastest possible algorithm that can do several operations simultaneously due to their wave like properties. This wave gives an O( N ) steps quantum algorithm for identifying that record, where was used classical Dijkstra’s algorithm for finding shortest path problem in the graph of network and implement quantum search. Also we proposed the structure for non-classical algorithms and design the various phases of the probabilistic quantum-classical algorithm for classical and quantum parts. Finally, we represent the result of implementing and simulating Dijkstra's algorithm as the probabilistic quantum-classical algorithm.
Given an undirected, weighted graph, with nnn vertices and mmm edges, and two special vertices sss and ttt, the problem is to find the shortest path between them. We give two bounded-error quantum algorithms with improved runtime in the adjacency list model that solve the problem on special classes of graphs defined via pathfinding probabilities of classical random walks and the electrical network framework. Firstly, we give a simple quantum algorithm based on sampling edges from a graph via the quantum flow state and running a classical algorithm on the sampled edges. It runs in O~(l2m)\tilde{O}(l^2\sqrt{m})O~(l2m​) expected time and uses O(log⁡n)O(\log{n})O(logn) space on graphs where the shortest sss-ttt path is also a minimum resistance sss-ttt subgraph. Our main algorithm can be thought of as a divide and conquer version of this approach and works on a special class of graphs where classical loop-erased random walk has a probability q>0.537q>0.537q>0.537 of finding the shortest sss-ttt path. In such cases the quantum algorithm outputs the shortest sss-ttt path with high probability in O~(ℓm)\widetilde{O}(\ell\sqrt{m})O(ℓm​) expected time and O(log⁡n)O(\log{n})O(logn) space, where lll is the length (or total weight, in case of weighted graphs) of the shortest sss-ttt path. This algorithm can be parallelised to O~(lm)\tilde{O}(\sqrt{lm})O~(lm​) circuit depth when using O(llog⁡n)O(l\log{n})O(llogn) space. With the latter we partially resolve with an affirmative answer the open problem of whether a path between two vertices can be found in the number of steps required to detect it.
Graph computation is a core technique for solving realistic problems of graph representations. In solving the shortest path problem (SPP), the current classical methods are encountering a huge performance bottleneck. Attempting to solve this dilemma, we try to solve the SPP with a Quantum Approximate Optimal Algorithm (QAOA)-based quantum method. In this paper, we propose a QAOA-based shortest path algorithm (SPA) by constructing a suitable Hamiltonian quantity and using the idea of variational quantum computing, and verify the algorithm using a quantum simulator and an International Business Machines cloud quantum computer. The proposed algorithm is able to achieve a near-optimal solution with a correct rate that significantly exceeds the invalid solutions, reaching a good preliminary result. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm is expected to achieve a huge advantage over the classical algorithm and the SPA based on Grover’s algorithm with a suitable selection of parameters and number of steps. In addition, the proposed algorithm requires fewer quantum bits than other quantum algorithms, thus promising quantum computing superiority on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) quantum computing devices.