Optimizing QAOA: Success Probability and Runtime Dependence on Circuit Depth

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm~(QAOA) first proposed by Farhi et al. promises near-term applications based on its simplicity, universality, and provable optimality. A depth-p QAOA consists of p interleaved unitary transformations induced by two mutually non-commuting Hamiltonians. A long-standing question concerning the performance of QAOA is the dependence of its success probability as a function of circuit depth p. We make initial progress by analyzing the success probability of QAOA for realizing state transfer in a one-dimensional qubit chain using two-qubit XY Hamiltonians and single-qubit Hamiltonians. We provide analytic state transfer success probability dependencies on p in both low and large p limits by leveraging the unique spectral property of the XY Hamiltonian. We support our proof under a given QAOA ansatz with numerical optimizations of QAOA for up to \(N\)=20 qubits. We show that the optimized QAOA can achieve the well-known quadratic speedup, Grover speedup, over the classical alternatives. Treating QAOA optimization as a quantum control problem, we also provide numerical evidence of how the circuit depth determines the controllability of the QAOA ansatz.