INQA

An International Network on Quantum Annealing

The International Network on Quantum Annealing (INQA) will for the first time establish a mechanism by which four global collaborations come together to share technical and intellectual know-how and critically analyse developments in theoretical and experimental research in quantum annealing.

Upcoming Seminars

16 April 2024 | 16:00 UTC | Anath Tenneti |  Carnegie Mellon University

Quantum inspired algorithms for non-linear integer optimization problems

In this talk, we introduce and summarize part of the research from the Quantum Technologies Group (QTG) at Carnegie Mellon University, founded by Sridhar Tayur, to explore the twin questions of (a) what can emerging quantum technologies do for Operations Research (OR) and (b) what can OR do for emerging quantum technologies (computing, communications, sensing)? In today’s talk, we  focus on computational experience with quantum annealing on a practical problem. We first introduce a novel hybrid quantum-classical heuristic algorithm (GAMA, Graver Augmented Multi-seed Algorithm) for non-linear, integer optimization which uses Graver basis as test sets. We will present an extension of GAMA to solve constrained bi-level optimization problems, a bi-level nested GAMA within GAMA: GAGA. Finally, we will illustrate GAGA using a practical application related to disaster response, the First Responder Network Design Problem (FRNDP), described below. In the aftermath of a sudden catastrophe, First Responders (FR) strive to promptly reach and rescue immobile victims. Simultaneously, other mobile individuals take roads to evacuate the affected region, access medical facilities or shelters, or reunite with their relatives. The escalated traffic congestion significantly hinders critical FR operations if they share some of the same roads. A proposal from the Turkish Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure being discussed for implementation is to allocate a subset of road segments for use by FRs only, mark them clearly, and pre-communicate them to the citizens. For the FR paths under consideration: (i) there should exist an FR path from designated entry points to each demand point in the network, and (ii) evacuees try to leave the network (through some exit points following the selfish routing principle) in the shortest time possible when they know that certain segments are not available to them. We develop a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation for the FRNDP and solve it using GAGA. We test GAGA on random graph instances of various sizes and instances related to an expected Istanbul earthquake. Comparing GAGA against a state-of-the-art exact algorithm for traditional formulations, we find that GAGA offers a promising alternative approach. We hope our work encourages further study of quantum (inspired) algorithms to tackle complex optimization models from other application domains. If time permits, we will showcase other work being conducted at QTG.

24 April 2024 | 01:00 UTC | Masoud Mohseni |  Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Title: TBC 

Abstract: TBC

Visit past seminars to view a list of all of our past seminars and their abstracts.

If you miss any of our live seminars you can watch our previous sessions on our YouTube Channel.

About INQA

The INQA network unifies the research activities of major global collaborations in quantum annealing in North America, Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

By hosting weekly on-line seminars and annual international conferences and by funding exchange visits, the INQA network will address the key topics which will enable quantum annealing to move towards a true quantum scaling advantage over classical approaches to NP-hard computational problems. 

The topics INQA will focus on include:

• Exploiting quantum coherence
• Extending the order and degree of qubit interactions
• Strategies for error correction 
• Exploiting diabaticity and non-stoquasticity in a systematic way

The network will be led by Professor Paul Warburton of UCL, who is a co-investigator in the UK’s Quantum Computation and Simulation (QCS) Hub and in the recently-announced QEVEC project. He was also previously a co-investigator in the US-led QEO and QAFS collaborations.

Members of the management board include: 

• Prof Paul Warburton (UCL, UK)
• Dr Pol Forn-Díaz (IFAE, Spain)
• Dr Shiro Kawabata (AIST, Japan)
• Prof Viv Kendon (University of Strathclyde, UK)
• Dr Jamie Kerman (MIT Lincoln Lab, USA)

INQA is supported by a International Network Grant from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.