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Self-Improving Quantum Search: Using Grover's Algorithm to Discover Superior Algorithms

Kaoru Aguilera Katayama

Published Jan 22, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a framework for algorithmic self-improvement based on quantum search. The core idea is to use Grover’s algorithm to search the space of quantum algorithms for one that outperforms Grover itself. The discovered algorithm then searches for an even better algorithm, and so on. We formalize this recursive improvement process and analyze the conditions under which it converges to optimal query complexity.

DOI
10.5281/zenodo.18333326

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We propose a framework for algorithmic self-improvement based on quantum search. The core idea is to use Grover’s algorithm to search the space of quantum algorithms for one that outperforms Grover itself. The discovered algorithm then searches for an even better algorithm, and so on. We formalize this recursive improvement process and analyze the conditions under which it converges to optimal query complexity.
One of the most important quantum algorithms ever discovered is Grover's algorithm for searching an unordered set. We give a new lower bound in the query model which proves that Grover's algorithm is exactly optimal. Similar to existing methods for proving lower bounds, we bound the amount of information we can gain from a single oracle query, but we bound this information in terms of angles. This allows our proof to be simple, self-contained, based on only elementary mathematics, capturing our intuition, while obtaining at the same time an exact bound.
One of the most important quantum algorithms ever discovered is Grover's algorithm for searching an unordered set. We give a new lower bound in the query model which proves that Grover's algorithm is exactly optimal. Similar to existing methods for proving lower bounds, we bound the amount of information we can gain from a single oracle query, but we bound this information in terms of angles. This allows our proof to be simple, self-contained, based on only elementary mathematics, capturing our intuition, while obtaining at the same time an exact bound.
Grover's quantum search algorithm provides a quadratic speedup over the classical one. The computational complexity is based on the number of queries to the oracle. However, depth is a more modern metric for noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers. We propose a depth optimization method for the quantum search algorithm. We show that Grover's algorithm is not optimal in depth. We propose a quantum search algorithm, which can be divided into several stages. Each stage has a new initialization, which is a rescaling of the database. This decreases errors. The multistage design is natural for parallel running of the quantum search algorithm.
Quantum search is one of the most important algorithmic developments in quantum computing because it demonstrates how quantum principles can improve the efficiency of solving unstructured search problems. Grover’s algorithm provides a quadratic speed-up over classical linear search by reducing query complexity from O(N) to O(√N), where N represents the size of the search space. This review examines the principles, performance, and applications of Grover’s algorithm, with emphasis on its theoretical foundation and practical relevance. The discussion covers the roles of superposition, quantum interference, oracle operations, diffusion operators, and amplitude amplification in increasing the probability of measuring a desired solution. The manuscript also reviews the computational performance of quantum search in comparison with classical search methods and considers its relevance to database searching, combinatorial optimisation, cryptography, machine learning, bioinformatics, quantum chemistry, and materials science. The review highlights that Grover’s algorithm is not limited to database retrieval, as many computationally intensive problems can be reformulated as search or optimisation tasks. However, practical implementation remains constrained by current quantum hardware limitations, including decoherence, quantum noise, limited qubit availability, circuit depth, and the difficulty of designing efficient oracles. Despite these challenges, continuing progress in quantum hardware, error correction, cloud-based quantum platforms, and hybrid quantum-classical architectures suggests that quantum search will remain an important area of research. Overall, Grover’s algorithm represents a foundational quantum algorithm with significant theoretical value and potential long-term application in computational domains involving large and unstructured search spaces.
Grover's algorithm provides a quadratic speedup over classical algorithms for searching an unstructured database and is known to be strictly optimal in oracle query complexity, with tight bounds on its success probability. Although the standard Grover search cannot be further accelerated in the full-search setting, a trade-off between accuracy and query complexity gives rise to the partial search problem. The Grover-Radhakrishnan-Korepin (GRK) algorithm is the standard and most extensively studied protocol for this task. In this work, we provide systematic numerical evidence that the GRK operator sequence gives the highest success probability in all examined cases, supporting it as the optimal ansatz among admissible compositions of global and local Grover operators. Guided by this numerically supported GRK ansatz, we derive an asymptotically tight upper bound on the maximal success probability within the GRK family and establish the corresponding lower bound on the minimal expected number of oracle queries. Furthermore, we investigate parallel quantum search within the partial-search framework. While a direct GRK-based parallelization does not outperform established parallel Grover schemes, we demonstrate that a hybrid strategy combining partial and full search protocols yields a strict, though subleading, improvement over the outer parallel Grover scheme. Our results clarify the fundamental limits of quantum partial search and its role in optimizing parallel quantum search algorithms.