28 September 2026 to 2 October 2026
Sun Hall Hotel
Asia/Nicosia timezone

Solving QUBO problems with tensor networks

1 Oct 2026, 15:00
30m
Sun Hall Hotel

Sun Hall Hotel

Athinon Avenue 7, 6023 Larnaca, Cyprus
ESR talk ESR

Speaker

Rocco Barač (University of Padova & University of Cyprus)

Description

Quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems arise naturally in spin glass models like the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Hamiltonian, where strongly frustrated interactions create rugged energy landscapes. In this talk, I explore how the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), the famous tensor network method used as a ground-state search algorithm, can be adapted as a heuristic QUBO solver. By introducing a weak transverse field, DMRG gains the ability to escape local minima. I will also discuss how these results compare to those of Gurobi optimizer, a state-of-the-art classical solver that struggles with strongly frustrated dense problems, and whether DMRG can offer an advantage.

Author

Rocco Barač (University of Padova & University of Cyprus)

Co-authors

Dr Ilaria Siloi (Padova University) Dr Marco Tesoro (planqc) Simone Montangero (Padova University)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.