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arXiv · 2307.15688

An SU(2)-symmetric Semidefinite Programming Hierarchy for Quantum Max Cut

Jun Takahashi·Chaithanya Rayudu·Cunlu Zhou·Robbie King·Kevin Thompson·Ojas Parekh
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Abstract

Understanding and approximating extremal energy states of local Hamiltonians is a central problem in quantum physics and complexity theory. Recent work has focused on developing approximation algorithms for local Hamiltonians, and in particular the ``Quantum Max Cut'' (QMax-Cut) problem, which is closely related to the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model. In this work, we introduce a family of semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxations based on the Navascues-Pironio-Acin (NPA) hierarchy which is tailored for QMaxCut by taking into account its SU(2) symmetry. We show that the hierarchy converges to the optimal QMaxCut value at a finite level, which is based on a new characterization of the algebra of SWAP operators. We give several analytic proofs and computational results showing exactness/inexactness of our hierarchy at the lowest level on several important families of graphs. We also discuss relationships between SDP approaches for QMaxCut and frustration-freeness in condensed matter physics and numerically demonstrate that the SDP-solvability practically becomes an efficiently-computable generalization of frustration-freeness. Furthermore, by numerical demonstration we show the potential of SDP algorithms to perform as an approximate method to compute physical quantities and capture physical features of some Heisenberg-type statistical mechanics models even away from the frustration-free regions.

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Jun Takahashi, Chaithanya Rayudu, Cunlu Zhou, Robbie King, Kevin Thompson, Ojas Parekh. 2026-04-09. An SU(2)-symmetric Semidefinite Programming Hierarchy for Quantum Max Cut. https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.15688

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