A workshop in
classical and quantum discrete optimization methods at ETH
Zurich in conjunction with the Pauli Center for Theoretical
Studies will take place in August 2014. Optimization methods
have a wide range of real-world applications across a
plethora of scientific disciplines. The minimization of a
Hamiltonian (or cost function) is one of the foundations of
physics. However, solving this often complex optimization
problem poses formidable numerical and theoretical
challenges, many of which remain unsolved. Because the
effort needed to solve most interesting optimization
problems scales worse than polynomial in the size of the
input, advances in algorithm development are of paramount
importance over ever increasing hardware requirements. Most
recently, a push towards using quantum instead of classical
hardware has emerged. Although promising, there is yet no
concrete indication that optimization algorithms exploiting
quantum effects pose an advantage over classical heuristic
and exact optimization algorithms. However, based on
theoretical results, quantum algorithms should be able to
outperform their classical counterparts. The goal of this
workshop is to bring together leading experts and young
researchers working on optimization methods and related
fields in an informal setting to build new collaborations
and further our understanding in this challenging area of
research. The focus of the workshop will be on both exact
and heuristic methods, as well as quantum
approaches.
The workshop is open to all interested scientists.
Matthias Troyer (ETH Zurich)
Helmut G. Katzgraber (Texas A&M University)
Troels Rønnow (ETH Zurich)