Quantum genetic algorithms

Abstract

Recent developments in quantum technology have shown that quantum computers can provide a dramatic advantage over classical computers for some algorithms. Since most problems of real interest for genetic algorithms (GAs) have a vast search space [Holland, 1975], it seems appropriate to consider how quantum parallelism can be applied to GAs. In this paper we present a simple quantum approach to genetic algorithms and analyze its benefits and drawbacks. This is significant because to date there are only a handful of quantum algorithms [Williams and Clearwater, 1997].