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TUE: Tuesday Contributed Sessions
TUE 7: Entanglement and Complexity: Contributed Session to Symposium I
TUE 7.5: Talk
Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 15:15–15:30, ZHG008
Role of Nonstabilizerness in Quantum Optimization — •Chiara Capecci1,2, Gopal Chandra Santra1,2, Alberto Bottarelli1,2, Emanuele Tirrito3, and Philipp Hauke1,2 — 1Pitaevskii BEC Center, CNR-INO and Department of Physics, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 14, I-38123 Trento, Italy — 2INFN-TIFPA, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, Via Sommarive 14, I-38123 Trento, Italy — 3The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy
Quantum optimization is a promising method for tackling complicated classical problems using quantum devices. However, the extent to which these algorithms exploit genuine quantum resources and the role of these resources remain open questions. We investigate the resource requirements of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) using nonstabilizerness measurements. We demonstrate that nonstabilizerness increases with circuit depth, reaches a maximum, then decreases approaching the solution state --- creating a barrier that limits algorithm's capability for shallow circuits. We find that curves for different depths collapse under simple rescaling and uncover a relationship between final nonstabilizerness and success probability. A similar barrier is found in quantum annealing. These results clarify how quantum resources influence quantum optimization.
Keywords: Nonstabilizerness; Variational Algorithms; Resource Theory; Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA)