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arXiv:quant-ph/0510084

Quantum Complexity Bounds for Independent Set Problems

Sebastian Doern

Published Oct 12, 2005• 0 citations
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Abstract

We present quantum complexity lower and upper bounds for independent set problems in graphs. In particular, we give quantum algorithms for computing a maximal and a maximum independent set in a graph. We present applications of these algorithms for some graph problems. Our results improve the best classical complexity bounds for the corresponding problems.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0510084

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Quantum algorithms and the maximum clique problem in graphs

Matheus Augusto Condé Dias

Determining the cardinality of the maximum clique on a simple graph is a NP-hard problem with several applications of interest. The best know classical algorithm for this problem has 𝒪(3𝑛/3) time complexity. Classical computing uses phenomena from classical physics to model, store and process information. Consequently, the entire model of classical computing is bounded superiorly by the limits of classical physics. As an alternative, Quantum Computing has been developed to take advantage of quantum phenomena and provide the constructions of circuits capable of performing certain computations more efficiently. In this paper, two quantum solutions to the maximum clique problem will be proposed and analyzed, based on the Grover Quantum Search algorithms and the Quantum Minimal Search Algorithm, comparing their respective time complexities with the best known classical solution.

•Sep 14, 2022•0 citations
We present quantum complexity lower and upper bounds for independent set problems in graphs. In particular, we give quantum algorithms for computing a maximal and a maximum independent set in a graph. We present applications of these algorithms for some graph problems. Our results improve the best classical complexity bounds for the corresponding problems.
Let U be a universe on n elements, let k be a positive integer, and let ℱ be a family of (implicitly defined) subsets of U. We consider the problems of partitioning U into k sets from ℱ, covering U with k sets from ℱ, and packing k non-intersecting sets from ℱ into U. Classically, these problems can be solved via inclusion-exclusion in 2ⁿ n^O(1) time [Andreas Björklund et al., 2009]. Quantumly, there are faster algorithms for graph coloring with running time O(1.9140ⁿ) [Kazuya Shimizu and Ryuhei Mori, 2022] and for Set Cover with a small number of sets with running time O(1.7274ⁿ |ℱ|^O(1)) [Andris Ambainis et al., 2019]. In this paper, we give a quantum speedup for Set Partition, Set Cover, and Set Packing whenever there is a classical enumeration algorithm that lends itself to a quadratic quantum speedup, which, for any subinstance on a set X ⊆ U, enumerates at least one member of a k-partition, k-cover, or k-packing (if one exists) restricted to (or projected onto, in the case of k-cover) the set X in c^|X| n^O(1) time with c < 2. Our bounded-error quantum algorithm runs in time (2+c)^{n/2} n^O(1) for Set Partition, Set Cover, and Set Packing. It is obtained by combining three algorithms that have the best running time for some values of c. When c ≤ 1.147899, our algorithm is slightly faster than (2+c)^{n/2} n^O(1); when c approaches 1, it matches the O(1.7274ⁿ |ℱ|^O(1)) running time of [Andris Ambainis et al., 2019] for Set Cover when |ℱ| is subexponential in n. For covering, packing, and partitioning into maximal independent sets, maximal cliques, maximal bicliques, maximal cluster graphs, maximal triangle-free graphs, maximal cographs, maximal claw-free graphs, maximal trivially-perfect graphs, maximal threshold graphs, maximal split graphs, maximal line graphs, and maximal induced forests, we obtain bounded-error quantum algorithms with running times ranging from O(1.8554ⁿ) to O(1.9629ⁿ). Packing and covering by maximal induced matchings can be done quantumly in O(1.8934ⁿ) time. For Graph Coloring (covering with k maximal independent sets), we further improve the running time to O(1.7956ⁿ) by leveraging faster algorithms for coloring with a small number of colors to better balance our divide-and-conquer steps. For Domatic Number (packing k minimal dominating sets), we obtain a O((2-ε)ⁿ) running time for some ε > 0. Several of our results should be of interest to proponents of classical computing: - We present an inclusion-exclusion algorithm with running time O^*(∑_{i=0}^⌊αn⌋ binom(n,i)), which determines, for each X ⊆ U of size at most α n, 0 ≤ α ≤ 1, whether (X,ℱ) has a k-cover, k-partition, or k-packing. This running time is best-possible, up to polynomial factors. - We prove that for any linear-sized vertex subset X ⊆ V of a graph G = (V,E), the number of minimal dominating sets of G that are subsets of X is O((2-ε)^|X|) for some ε > 0.
We study the quantum query complexity of several basic graph problems. 1) We prove a tight Θ(n3/2)Θ(n^{3/2})Θ(n3/2) bound for finding a maximum-out-degree vertex in an nnn-vertex tournament, resolving a conjecture of Mande, Paraashar, and Saurabh [FSTTCS'23]. 2) Using the same proof idea, we give a direct proof that finding a maximum-degree vertex in an nnn-vertex undirected graph requires Θ(n3/2)Θ(n^{3/2})Θ(n3/2) quantum queries, a bound implicit in the work of Apers and Lee [CCC'21]. Both lower bounds above hold even for computing only the maximum degree or maximum out-degree. 3) We also study Maximum (k,n−k)(k,n-k)(k,n−k)-Cut, which asks for the largest cut with one side of size kkk. For every constant k≥1k\geq 1k≥1, we give an O(n2−1/(k+1))O(n^{2-1/(k+1)})O(n2−1/(k+1))-query quantum algorithm. 4) We establish a reduction to Maximum (k,n−k)(k,n-k)(k,n−k)-Cut involving kkk-Graph Collision, which asks whether the marked vertices of a known graph contain a kkk-clique. For k≥3k\geq 3k≥3, this yields unconditional lower bounds with exponents strictly larger than 3/23/23/2, showing that this problem is strictly harder than computing maximum degree. Additionally, under a conjecture we propose for kkk-Graph Collision, the reduction yields a lower bound matching our upper bound above.
Determining the cardinality of the maximum clique on a simple graph is a NP-hard problem with several applications of interest. The best know classical algorithm for this problem has 𝒪(3𝑛/3) time complexity. Classical computing uses phenomena from classical physics to model, store and process information. Consequently, the entire model of classical computing is bounded superiorly by the limits of classical physics. As an alternative, Quantum Computing has been developed to take advantage of quantum phenomena and provide the constructions of circuits capable of performing certain computations more efficiently. In this paper, two quantum solutions to the maximum clique problem will be proposed and analyzed, based on the Grover Quantum Search algorithms and the Quantum Minimal Search Algorithm, comparing their respective time complexities with the best known classical solution.