A black-box optimization method with polynomial-based kernels and quadratic-optimization annealing

Abstract: We introduce kernel-QA, a black-box optimization (BBO) method that constructs surrogate models analytically using low-order polynomial kernels within a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) framework, enabling efficient utilization of Ising machines. The method has been evaluated on artificial landscapes, ranging from uni-modal to multi-modal, with input dimensions extending to 80 for real variables and 640 for binary variables. The results demonstrate that kernel-QA is particularly effective for optimizing black-box functions characterized by local minima and high-dimensional inputs, showcasing its potential as a robust and scalable BBO approach.