Solving the Product Breakdown Structure Problem with constrained QAOA

Abstract: Constrained optimization problems, where not all possible variable assignments are feasible solutions, comprise numerous practically relevant optimization problems such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), or portfolio optimization. Established methods such as quantum annealing or vanilla QAOA usually transform the problem statement into a QUBO (Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization) form, where the constraints are enforced by auxiliary terms in the QUBO objective. Consequently, such approaches fail to utilize the additional structure provided by the constraints. In this paper, we present a method for solving the industry relevant Product Breakdown Structure problem. Our solution is based on constrained QAOA, which by construction never explores the part of the Hilbert space that represents solutions forbidden by the problem constraints. The size of the search space is thereby reduced significantly. We experimentally show that this approach has not only a very favorable scaling behavior, but also appears to suppress the negative effects of Barren Plateaus.