Warm-Starting MaxCut Relaxation via Low-Depth Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.06212v1
• Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:04:14 GMT
• Title: Warm-Starting MaxCut Relaxation via Low-Depth Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm
• Abstract summary: State-of-the-art classical solvers remain a formidable benchmark for practical utility.<n>We propose a hybrid strategy that uses quantum information to enhance leading classical solvers.
• Score: 1.4062671086456255
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: Quantum optimization has attracted growing interest as quantum hardware continues to improve, yet state-of-the-art classical solvers remain a formidable benchmark for practical utility. Rather than seeking a fully quantum replacement for classical optimization, we propose a hybrid strategy that uses quantum information to enhance leading classical heuristics. Specifically, we introduce a warm-start method based on local correlators obtained from the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), and use this information to initialize the Burer-Monteiro (BM) rank-two relaxation. We demonstrate numerically that, compared to a random, multi-start initialization baseline (a standard strategy used for BM), this quantum-informed initialization offers a significant head start, i.e., high-quality solutions with very small number of iterations, for two problem classes -- random Erdős Rényi graphs with edge density of $10\%$ (ER-10) and fully-connected Sherrington Kirkpatrick (SK) spin glass models, at $n=500$ and $n=1000$ qubits. At the same time, given enough iterations, the random baseline often eventually catches up and slightly outperforms the warm-start strategy on average, an effect visibly stronger for $n=500$ than for $n=1000$. The results demonstrate an exploitation/exploration tradeoff of using WS to quickly arrive at very good solutions vs exploring slightly better solutions with a larger iterations budget via a standard strategy. Our results highlight how low-depth quantum circuits can provide useful structural information for classical optimization and suggest a promising route toward near-term quantum utility through quantum-assisted initialization.

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