TY - CHAP A1 - Gabriel, Christian A1 - Wittmann, Christoffer A1 - Hacker, B. A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Huntington, E. A1 - Sabuncu, M. A1 - Marquardt, Christoph A1 - Leuchs, Gerd T1 - A high-speed secure quantum random number generator based on vacuum states T2 - IEEE/OSA Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 06-11 May 2012, San Jose CA USA N2 - A high-speed continuous-variable quantum random bit generator with an expected effective bit generation rate of up to 10 GBit/s is presented. The obtained bit sequences are truly random and unique, i.e. they cannot be known by an adversary. Y1 - 2012 PB - Optical Society of America ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schmidbauer, Lukas A1 - Wintersperger, Karen A1 - Lobe, Elisabeth A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Polynomial Reduction Methods and their Impact on QAOA Circuits T2 - IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software (QSW), 7-13 July 2024, Shenzhen, China N2 - Abstraction layers are of paramount importance in software architecture, as they shield the higher-level formulation of payload computations from lower-level details. Since quantum computing (QC) introduces many such details that are often unaccustomed to computer scientists, an obvious desideratum is to devise appropriate abstraction layers for QC. For discrete optimisation, one such abstraction is to cast problems in quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation (QUBO) form, which is amenable to a variety of quantum approaches. However, different mathematically equivalent forms can lead to different behaviour on quantum hardware, ranging from ease of mapping onto qubits to performance scalability. In this work, we show how using higher-order problem formulations (that provide better expressivity in modelling optimisation tasks than plain QUBO formulations) and their automatic transformation into QUBO form can be used to leverage such differences to prioritise between different desired non-functional properties for quantum optimisation. Based on a practically relevant use-case and a graph-theoretic analysis, we evaluate how different transformation approaches influence widely used quantum performance metrics (circuit depth, gates count, gate distribution, qubit scaling), and also consider the classical computational efforts required to perform the transformations, as they influence possibilities for achieving future quantum advantage. Furthermore, we establish more general properties and invariants of the transformation methods. Our quantitative study shows that the approach allows us to satisfy different trade-offs, and suggests various possibilities for the future construction of general-purpose abstractions and automatic generation of useful quantum circuits from high-level problem descriptions. KW - HW-SW co design KW - NISQ systems KW - noisy quantum computing KW - quantum software engineering Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/QSW62656.2024.00018 SP - 35 EP - 45 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Broser, Christian A1 - Falter, Thomas A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Altenbuchner, Amelie A1 - Vögele, Daniel A1 - Koss, Claus A1 - Schlamp, Matthias A1 - Dunnweber, Jan A1 - Steffens, Oliver A1 - Heckner, Markus A1 - Jaritz, Sabine A1 - Schiegl, Thomas A1 - Corsten, Sabine A1 - Lauer, Norina A1 - Guertler, Katherine A1 - Koenig, Eric A1 - Haug, Sonja A1 - Huber, Dominik A1 - Birkenmaier, Clemens A1 - Krenkel, Lars A1 - Wagner, Thomas A1 - Justus, Xenia A1 - Saßmannshausen, Sean Patrick A1 - Kleine, Nadine A1 - Weber, Karsten A1 - Braun, Carina N. A1 - Giacoppo, Giuliano A1 - Heinrich, Michael A1 - Just, Tobias A1 - Schreck, Thomas A1 - Schnabl, Andreas A1 - Gilmore, Amador Téran A1 - Roeslin, Samuel A1 - Schmid, Sandra A1 - Wellnitz, Felix A1 - Malz, Sebastian A1 - Maurial, Andreas A1 - Hauser, Florian A1 - Mottok, Jürgen A1 - Klettke, Meike A1 - Scherzinger, Stefanie A1 - Störl, Uta A1 - Heckner, Markus A1 - Bazo, Alexander A1 - Wolff, Christian A1 - Kopper, Andreas A1 - Westner, Markus A1 - Pongratz, Christian A1 - Ehrlich, Ingo A1 - Briem, Ulrich A1 - Hederer, Sebastian A1 - Wagner, Marcus A1 - Schillinger, Moritz A1 - Görlach, Julien A1 - Hierl, Stefan A1 - Siegl, Marco A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Hausladen, Matthias A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Haslbeck, Matthias A1 - Kreuzer, Reinhard A1 - Brückl, Oliver A1 - Dawoud, Belal A1 - Rabl, Hans-Peter A1 - Gamisch, Bernd A1 - Schmidt, Ottfried A1 - Heberl, Michael A1 - Gänsbauer, Bianca A1 - Bick, Werner A1 - Ellermeier, Andreas A1 - Monkman, Gareth J. A1 - Prem, Nina A1 - Sindersberger, Dirk A1 - Tschurtschenthaler, Karl A1 - Aurbach, Maximilian A1 - Dendorfer, Sebastian A1 - Betz, Michael A. A1 - Szecsey, Tamara A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Murr, Florian ED - Baier, Wolfgang T1 - Forschung 2018 T3 - Forschungsberichte der OTH Regensburg - 2018 KW - Forschung KW - Forschungsbericht Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-13826 SN - 978-3-9818209-5-9 CY - Regensburg ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hoess, Nicole A1 - Paradis, Carlos A1 - Kazman, Rick A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Does the Tool Matter? Exploring Some Causes of Threats to Validity in Mining Software Repositories T2 - 2025 IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution and Reengineering (SANER), Montreal, QC, Canada, March, 4-7, 2025 N2 - Software repositories are an essential source of information for software engineering research on topics such as project evolution and developer collaboration. Appropriate mining tools and analysis pipelines are therefore an indispensable precondition for many research activities. Ideally, valid results should not depend on technical details of data collection and processing. It is, however, widely acknowledged that mining pipelines are complex, with a multitude of implementation decisions made by tool authors based on their interests and assumptions. This raises the questions if (and to what extent) tools agree on their results and are interchangeable. In this study, we use two tools to extract and analyse ten large software projects, quantitatively and qualitatively comparing results and derived data to better understand this concern. We analyse discrepancies from a technical point of view, and adjust code and parametrisation to minimise replication differences. Our results indicate that despite similar trends, even simple metrics such as the numbers of commits and developers may differ by up to 500%. We find that such substantial differences are often caused by minor technical details. We show how tool-level and data post-processing changes can overcome these issues, but find they may require considerable efforts. We summarise identified causes in our lessons learned to help researchers and practitioners avoid common pitfalls, and reflect on implementation decisions and their influence in ensuring obtained data meets explicit and implicit expectations. Our findings lead us to hypothesise that similar uncertainties exist in other analysis tools, which may limit the validity of conclusions drawn in tool-centric research. KW - Codes KW - Collaboration KW - Data collection KW - Data mining KW - Developer Networks KW - Empirical Software Engineering KW - Market research KW - Measurement KW - Mining Software Repositories KW - Pipelines KW - Research Software KW - Software engineering KW - Uncertainty Y1 - 2025 SN - 979-8-3315-3510-0 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/SANER64311.2025.00067 SP - 645 EP - 656 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Carbonelli, Cecilia A1 - Felderer, Michael A1 - Jung, Matthias A1 - Lobe, Elisabeth A1 - Lochau, Malte A1 - Luber, Sebastian A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Ramler, Rudolf A1 - Schäfer, Ina A1 - Schroth, Christoph ED - Exman, Iaakov ED - Perez-Castillo, Ricardo ED - Piattini, Mario ED - Felderer, Michael T1 - Challenges for Quantum Software Engineering: An Industrial Application Scenario Perspective T2 - Quantum Software: Aspects of Theory and System Design N2 - Quantum software is becoming a key enabler for applying quantum computing to industrial use cases. This poses challenges to quantum software engineering in providing efficient and effective means to develop such software. Eventually, this must be reliably achieved in time, on budget, and in quality, using sound and well-principled engineering approaches. Given that quantum computers are based on fundamentally different principles than classical machines, this raises the question if, how, and to what extent established techniques for systematically engineering software need to be adapted. In this chapter, we analyze three paradigmatic application scenarios for quantum software engineering from an industrial perspective. The respective use cases center around (1) optimization and quantum cloud services, (2) quantum simulation, and (3) embedded quantum computing. Our aim is to provide a concise overview of the current and future applications of quantum computing in diverse industrial settings. We derive presumed challenges for quantum software engineering and thus provide research directions for this emerging field. KW - industrial use cases KW - quantum computing KW - quantum software engineering KW - software development KW - software engineering Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-031-64135-0 SN - 978-3-031-64136-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64136-7_12 PB - Springer-Nature ER - TY - INPR A1 - Ammermann, Joshua A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Schäfer, Ina T1 - Towards View-based Development of Quantum Software N2 - Quantum computing is an interdisciplinary field that relies on the expertise of many different stakeholders. The views of various stakeholders on the subject of quantum computing may differ, thereby complicating communication. To address this, we propose a view-based quantum development approach based on a Single Underlying Model (SUM) and a supporting quantumIntegrated Development Environment (IDE). We highlight emerging challenges for future research. KW - Quantum Computing KW - View-based Development KW - Integrated Development Environment Y1 - 2024 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Scherzinger, Stefanie A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Quantum Computing for DB - Applicability on Multi Query Optimization and Join Order Optimization T2 - Frühjahrstreffen Fachgruppe Datenbanken in Potsdam, 2022 Y1 - UR - https://www.lfdr.de/Publications/2022/FGDB_Poster_Schoenberger.pdf ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Franz, Maja A1 - Scherzinger, Stefanie A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Peel | Pile? Cross-Framework Portability of Quantum Software T2 - 2022 IEEE 19th International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C), 12-15 March 2022, Honolulu, HI, USA N2 - In recent years, various vendors have made quantum software frameworks available. Yet with vendor-specific frameworks, code portability seems at risk, especially in a field where hardware and software libraries have not yet reached a consolidated state, and even foundational aspects of the technologies are still in flux. Accordingly, the development of vendor-independent quantum programming languages and frameworks is often suggested. This follows the established architectural pattern of introducing additional levels of abstraction into software stacks, thereby piling on layers of abstraction. Yet software architecture also provides seemingly less abstract alternatives, namely to focus on hardware-specific formulations of problems that peel off unnecessary layers. In this article, we quantitatively and experimentally explore these strategic alternatives, and compare popular quantum frameworks from the software implementation perspective. We find that for several specific, yet generalisable problems, the mathematical formulation of the problem to be solved is not just sufficiently abstract and serves as precise description, but is likewise concrete enough to allow for deriving framework-specific implementations with little effort. Additionally, we argue, based on analysing dozens of existing quantum codes, that porting between frameworks is actually low-effort, since the quantum- and framework-specific portions are very manageable in terms of size, commonly in the order of mere hundreds of lines of code. Given the current state-of-the-art in quantum programming practice, this leads us to argue in favour of peeling off unnecessary abstraction levels. KW - Computer Science KW - Quantum Physics KW - Software Engineering Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSA-C54293.2022.00039 N1 - Preprint unter: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.06289 PB - IEEE ER - TY - INPR A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Trummer, Immanuel A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Quantum-Inspired Digital Annealing for Join Ordering T2 - Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment N2 - Finding the optimal join order (JO) is one of the most important problems in query optimisation, and has been extensively considered in research and practise. As it involves huge search spaces, approximation approaches and heuristics are commonly used, which explore a reduced solution space at the cost of solution quality. To explore even large JO search spaces, we may consider special-purpose software, such as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) solvers, which have successfully solved JO problems. However, even mature solvers cannot overcome the limitations of conventional hardware prompted by the end of Moore’s law. We consider quantum-inspired digital annealing hardware, which takes inspiration from quantum processing units (QPUs). Unlike QPUs, which likely remain limited in size and reliability in the near and mid-term future, the digital annealer (DA) can solve large instances of mathematically encoded optimisation problems today. We derive a novel, native encoding for the JO problem tailored to this class of machines that substantially improves over known MILP and quantum-based encodings, and reduces encoding size over the state-of-the-art. By augmenting the computation with a novel readout method, we derive valid join orders for each solution obtained by the (probabilistically operating) DA. Most importantly and despite an extremely large solution space, our approach scales to practically relevant dimensions of around 50 relations and improves result quality over conventionally employed approaches, adding a novel alternative to solving the long-standing JO problem. Y1 - 2023 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Schmidl, Sebastian A1 - Deng, Yangshen A1 - Ma, Pingchuan A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Reproducibility Report for ACM SIGMOD 2023 Paper: Ready to Leap (by Co-Design)? Join Order Optimisation N2 - The paper “Ready to Leap (by Co-Design)? Join Order Optimisation on Quantum Hardware” proposes the first approach to solve the problem of join order optimization on quantum hardware. The authors characterize the applicability and limitations of current state-of-the-art quantum hardware, i. e. gate-based quantum computing and quantum annealing, for join ordering and recommend key improvements to the physical hardware to reach practical utility. Based on the provided database queries and QPU system processing data, we have been able to reproduce the original paper’s key insights and quantum problem characteristics reported in its experimental section. The authors provided a self-contained and fully automated reproduction package, including data (database queries, statistics, and collected QPU processing data), experiment scripts, and plotting routines that allowed the identical reconstruction of the three main figures in the paper. Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.lfdr.de/Publications/2024/SIGMOD_ARI_2023___Paper_37.pdf ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Scherzinger, Stefanie A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Applicability of Quantum Computing on Database Query Optimization T2 - Frühjahrstreffen Fachgruppe Datenbanken in Potsdam (Poster Presentation) Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Safi, Hila A1 - Bandic, Medina A1 - Niedermeier, Christoph A1 - Almudever, Carmen G. A1 - Feld, Sebastian A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Stacking the odds: full-stack quantum system design space exploration JF - EPJ Quantum Technology N2 - Design space exploration (DSE) plays an important role in optimising quantum circuit execution by systematically evaluating different configurations of compilation strategies and hardware settings. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive investigation into the impact of various layout methods, qubit routing techniques, and optimisation levels, as well as device-specific properties such as different variants and strengths of noise and imperfections, the topological structure of qubits, connectivity densities, and back-end sizes. By spanning through these dimensions, we aim to understand the interplay between compilation choices and hardware characteristics. A key question driving our exploration is whether the optimal selection of device parameters, mapping techniques, comprising of initial layout strategies and routing heuristics can mitigate device induced errors beyond standard error mitigation approaches. Our results show that carefully selecting software strategies (e.g., mapping and routing algorithms) and tailoring hardware characteristics (such as minimising noise and leveraging topology and connectivity density) significantly improve the fidelity of circuit execution outcomes, and thus the expected correctness or success probability of the computational result. We provide estimates based on key metrics such as circuit depth, gate count and expected fidelity. Our results highlight the importance of hardware–software co-design, particularly as quantum systems scale to larger dimensions, and along the way towards fully error corrected quantum systems: Our study is based on computationally noisy simulations, but considers various implementations of quantum error correction (QEC) using the same approach as for other algorithms. The observed sensitivity of circuit fidelity to noise and connectivity suggests that co-design principles will be equally critical when integrating QEC in future systems. Our exploration provides practical guidelines for co-optimising physical mapping, qubit routing, and hardware configurations in realistic quantum computing scenarios. Y1 - 2025 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-85157 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Hila Safi VL - 12 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Franz, Maja A1 - Winker, Tobias A1 - Groppe, Sven A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Hype or Heuristic? Quantum Reinforcement Learning for Join Order Optimisation T2 - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE), 15-20 September 2024, Montreal, QC, Canada N2 - Identifying optimal join orders (JOs) stands out as a key challenge in database research and engineering. Owing to the large search space, established classical methods rely on approximations and heuristics. Recent efforts have successfully explored reinforcement learning (RL) for JO. Likewise, quantum versions of RL have received considerable scientific attention. Yet, it is an open question if they can achieve sustainable, overall practical advantages with improved quantum processors. In this paper, we present a novel approach that uses quantum reinforcement learning (QRL) for JO based on a hybrid variational quantum ansatz. It is able to handle general bushy join trees instead of resorting to simpler left-deep variants as compared to approaches based on quantum(-inspired) optimisation, yet requires multiple orders of magnitudes fewer qubits, which is a scarce resource even for post-NISQ systems. Despite moderate circuit depth, the ansatz exceeds current NISQ capabilities, which requires an evaluation by numerical simulations. While QRL may not significantly outperform classical approaches in solving the JO problem with respect to result quality (albeit we see parity), we find a drastic reduction in required trainable parameters. This benefits practically relevant aspects ranging from shorter training times compared to classical RL, less involved classical optimisation passes, or better use of available training data, and fits data-stream and low-latency processing scenarios. Our comprehensive evaluation and careful discussion delivers a balanced perspective on possible practical quantum advantage, provides insights for future systemic approaches, and allows for quantitatively assessing trade-offs of quantum approaches for one of the most crucial problems of database management systems. Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:898-opus4-76877 N1 - Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg: Maja Franz SP - 409 EP - 420 PB - IEEE ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Tom A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Out of the Loop: Structural Approximation of Optimisation Landscapes and non-Iterative Quantum Optimisation JF - Quantum N2 - The Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA) is a widely studied quantum-classical iterative heuristic for combinatorial optimisation. While QAOA targets problems in complexity class NP, the classical optimisation procedure required in every iteration is itself known to be NP-hard. Still, advantage over classical approaches is suspected for certain scenarios, but nature and origin of its computational power are not yet satisfactorily understood. By introducing means of efficiently and accurately approximating the QAOA optimisation landscape from solution space structures, we derive a new algorithmic variant of unit-depth QAOA for two-level Hamiltonians (including all problems in NP): Instead of performing an iterative quantum-classical computation for each input instance, our non-iterative method is based on a quantum circuit that is instance-independent, but problem-specific. It matches or outperforms unit-depth QAOA for key combinatorial problems, despite reduced computational effort. Our approach is based on proving a long-standing conjecture regarding instance-independent structures in QAOA. By ensuring generality, we link existing empirical observations on QAOA parameter clustering to established approaches in theoretical computer science, and provide a sound foundation for understanding the link between structural properties of solution spaces and quantum optimisation. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2025-11-06-1903 N1 - Die Preprint-Version ist ebenfalls in diesem Repositorium verzeichnet unter: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/start/2/rows/10/sortfield/score/sortorder/desc/searchtype/simple/query/Out+of+the+Loop/docId/7938 VL - 9 PB - Verein zur Förderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Trummer, Immanuel A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Large-Scale Multiple Query Optimisation with Incremental Quantum(-Inspired) Annealing T2 - Proceedings of the ACM on Management of Data N2 - Multiple-query optimization (MQO) seeks to reduce redundant work across query batches. While MQO offers opportunities for dramatic performance improvements, the problem is NP-hard, limiting the sizes of problems that can be solved on generic hardware. We propose to leverage specialized hardware solvers for optimization, such as Fujitsu's Digital Annealer (DA), to scale up MQO to problem sizes formerly out of reach. We present a novel incremental processing approach that combines classical computation with DA acceleration. By efficiently partitioning MQO problems into sets of partial problems, and by applying a dynamic search steering strategy that reapplies initially discarded information to incrementally process individual problems, our method overcomes capacity limitations, and scales to extremely large MQO instances (up to νm1000 queries). A thorough and comprehensive empirical evaluation finds our method substantially outperforms existing approaches. Our generalisable framework lays the ground for other database use-cases on quantum-inspired hardware, and bridges towards future quantum accelerators. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1145/3749171 VL - 3 IS - 4 PB - ACM ER - TY - INPR A1 - Krüger, Tom A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Out of the Loop: Structural Approximation of Optimisation Landscapes and non-Iterative Quantum Optimisation N2 - The Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (qaoa) is a widely studied quantum-classical iterative heuristic for combinatorial optimisation. While qaoa targets problems in complexity class NP, the classical optimisation procedure required in every iteration is itself known to be NP-hard. Still, advantage over classical approaches is suspected for certain scenarios, but nature and origin of its computational power are not yet satisfactorily understood. By introducing means of efficiently and accurately approximating the qaoa optimisation landscape from solution space structures, we derive a new algorithmic variant: Instead of performing an iterative quantum-classical computation for each input instance, our non-iterative method is based on a quantum circuit that is instance-independent, but problem-specific. It matches or outperforms unit-depth qaoa for key combinatorial problems, despite reduced computational effort. Our approach is based on proving a long-standing conjecture regarding instance-independent structures in qaoa. By ensuring generality, we link existing empirical observations on qaoa parameter clustering to established approaches in theoretical computer science, and provide a sound foundation for understanding the link between structural properties of solution spaces and quantum optimisation. Y1 - 2024 N1 - er Aufsatz wurde peer-reviewed veröffentlicht und ist ebenfalls in diesem Repositorium verzeichnet unter: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/start/3/rows/10/sortfield/score/sortorder/desc/searchtype/simple/query/out+of+the+loop/docId/8843 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang ED - Ali, Shaukat ED - Barzen, Johanna ED - Delgado, Andrea ED - Müller, Hausi A. ED - Murillo, Juan Manuel T1 - Quantum Software = Quantum minus Software? T2 - Dagstuhl Reports : Quantum Software Engineering : Report from Dagsthul Seminar 24512 N2 - The Dagstuhl Seminar 24512 on "Quantum Software Engineering" was held from December 15 to 20, 2024. It brought together 26 participants from industry and academia from 13 different countries, including senior and junior researchers as well as practitioners in the field of Quantum Software Engineering. The aim of the seminar was to advance software engineering methods and tools for the engineering of hybrid quantum systems by promoting personal interaction and open discussion among researchers who are already working in this emerging area of knowledge. The first day of the seminar was devoted to the topic "When software engineering meets quantum mechanics", while the second day focused on "Quantum software engineering and its challenges." During both days, 16 invited presentations were given. The rest of the seminar was organized into three working groups to address the topics "Quantum Software Design, Modelling and Architecturing", "Adaptive Hybrid Quantum Systems", and "Quantum Software Quality Assurance". The seminar was a very fruitful experience for all participants both in terms of scientific outcomes and in terms of the personal relationships that were generated to jointly address future experiences. Y1 - 2025 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-230469 VL - 14 IS - 12 SP - 73 EP - 74 PB - Dagstuhl Publishing ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Joblin, Mitchell A1 - Tamburri, Damian Andrew A1 - Paradis, Carlos A1 - Kazman, Rick A1 - Apel, Sven T1 - In Search of Socio-Technical Congruence: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study [Data set] Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4766388 N1 - Archive of the accompanying website including all datasets for "In Search of Socio-Technical Congruence: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study" (IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering): https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2021.3082074 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang A1 - Scherzinger, Stefanie T1 - Nullius in Verba - Reproducibility Tutorial [Data set] N2 - Reproduction package (docker image) for the ICDE 2021 tutorial "Nullius in Verba". Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4730023 N1 - In Verbindung mit dem Konferenzbeitrag: Nullius in Verba: Reproducibility for Database Systems Research, Revisited - https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDE51399.2021.00270 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schmidbauer, Lukas A1 - Lobe, Elisabeth A1 - Schäfer, Ina A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - It's Quick to be Square: Fast Quadratisation for Quantum Toolchains [Data set] N2 - Many of the envisioned use-cases for quantum computers involve optimisation processes. While there are many algorithmic primitives to perform the required calculations, all eventually lead to quantum gates operating on quantum bits, with an order as determined by the structure of the objective function and the properties of target hardware. When the structure of the problem representation is not aligned with structure and boundary conditions of the executing hardware, various overheads to degrade the computation may arise, possibly negating any possible quantum advantage. Therefore, automatic transformations of problem representations play an important role in quantum computing when descriptions (semi-)targeted at humans must be cast into forms that can be executed on quantum computers. Mathematically equivalent formulations are known to result in substantially different non-functional properties depending on hardware, algorithm and detail properties of the problem. Given the current state of noisy-intermediate scale quantum hardware (NISQ), these effects are considerably more pronounced than in classical computing. Likewise, efficiency of the transformation itself is relevant because possible quantum advantage may easily be eradicated by the overhead of transforming between representations. In this paper we consider a specific class of higher-level representations (polynomial unconstrained binary optimisation problems), and devise novel automatic transformation mechanisms into widely used quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation problems that substantially improve efficiency and versatility over the state of the art. We also identify what influence factors of lower-level details can be abstracted away in the transformation process, and which details must be made available to higher-level abstractions. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14245588 N1 - Paper: 10.48550/arXiv.2411.19934 Software: https://github.com/lfd/Fast_Quadratisation ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schmidbauer, Lukas A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - SAT Strikes Back: Parameter and Path Relations in Quantum Toolchains [Data set] N2 - In the foreseeable future, toolchains for quantum computing should offer automatic means of transforming a high level problem formulation down to a hardware executable form. Thereby, it is crucial to find (multiple) transformation paths that are optimised for (hardware specific) metrics. We zoom into this pictured tree of transformations by focussing on k-SAT instances as input and their transformation to QUBO, while considering structure and characteristic metrics of input, intermediate and output representations. Our results can be used to rate valid paths of transformation in advance—also in automated (quantum) toolchains. We support the automation aspect by considering stability and therefore predictability of free parameters and transformation paths. Moreover, our findings can be used in the manifesting era of error correction (since considering structure in a high abstraction layer can benefit error correcting codes in layers below). We also show that current research is closely linked to quadratisation techniques and their mathematical foundation. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15464391 N1 - Repositoriy URL: https://github.com/lfd/QSW25-SAT-Strikes-Back ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ramsauer, Ralf A1 - Lohmann, Daniel A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Reliable Pre-Integration Tracking of Commits on Mailing Lists T2 - Invited Talk at Safety Summit at Embedded Linux Conference Europe (ELCE18) Y1 - 2018 CY - Edinburgh, Scotland ER - TY - INPR A1 - Eichenseher, Vincent A1 - Franz, Maja A1 - Wolff, Christian A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Pattern or Not? QAOA Parameter Heuristics and Potentials of Parsimony N2 - Structured variational quantum algorithms such as the Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithm (QAOA) have emerged as leading candidates for exploiting advantages of near-term quantum hardware. They interlace classical computation, in particular optimisation of variational parameters, with quantum-specific routines, and combine problem-specific advantages -- sometimes even provable -- with adaptability to the constraints of noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. While circuit depth can be parametrically increased and is known to improve performance in an ideal (noiseless) setting, on realistic hardware greater depth exacerbates noise: The overall quality of results depends critically on both, variational parameters and circuit depth. Although identifying optimal parameters is NP-hard, prior work has suggested that they may exhibit regular, predictable patterns for increasingly deep circuits and depending on the studied class of problems. In this work, we systematically investigate the role of classical parameters in QAOA performance through extensive numerical simulations and suggest a simple, yet effective heuristic scheme to find good parameters for low-depth circuits. Our results demonstrate that: (i) optimal parameters often deviate substantially from expected patterns; (ii) QAOA performance becomes progressively less sensitive to specific parameter choices as depth increases; and (iii) iterative component-wise fixing performs on par with, and at shallow depth may even outperform, several established parameter-selection strategies. We identify conditions under which structured parameter patterns emerge, and when deviations from the patterns warrant further consideration. These insights for low-depth circuits may inform more robust pathways to harnessing QAOA in realistic quantum compute scenarios. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2510.08153 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Gierisch, Vincent A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - QEF: Reproducible and Exploratory Quantum Software Experiments N2 - Commercially available Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices now make small hybrid quantum-classical experiments practical, but many tools hide configuration or demand ad-hoc scripting. We introduce the Quantum Experiment Framework (QEF): A lightweight framework designed to support the systematic, hypothesis-driven study of quantum algorithms. Unlike many existing approaches, QEF emphasises iterative, exploratory analysis of evolving experimental strategies rather than exhaustive empirical evaluation of fixed algorithms using predefined quality metrics. The framework's design is informed by a comprehensive review of the literature, identifying principal parameters and measurement practices currently reported in the field. QEF captures all key aspects of quantum software and algorithm experiments through a concise specification that expands into a Cartesian product of variants for controlled large-scale parameter sweeps. This design enables rigorous and systematic evaluation, as well as precise reproducibility. Large sweeps are automatically partitioned into asynchronous jobs across simulators or cloud hardware, and ascertain full hyper-parameter traceability. QEF supports parameter reuse to improve overall experiment runtimes, and collects all metrics and metadata into a form that can be conveniently explored with standard statistical and visualisation software. By combining reproducibility and scalability while avoiding the complexities of full workflow engines, QEF seeks to lower the practical barriers to empirical research on quantum algorithms, whether these are designed for current NISQ devices or future error-corrected quantum systems. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.04563 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schönberger, Manuel A1 - Trummer, Immanuel A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - Hybrid Mixed Integer Linear Programming for Large-Scale Join Order Optimisation T2 - Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment N2 - Finding optimal join orders is among the most crucial steps to be performed by query optimisers. Though extensively studied in data management research, the problem remains far from solved: While query optimisers rely on exhaustive search methods to determine ideal solutions for small problems, such methods reach their limits once queries grow in size. Yet, large queries become increasingly common in real-world scenarios, and require suitable methods to generate efficient execution plans. While a variety of heuristics have been proposed for large-scale query optimisation, they suffer from degrading solution quality as queries grow in size, or feature highly sub-optimal worst-case behavior, as we will show. We propose a novel method based on the paradigm of mixed integer linear programming (MILP): By deriving a novel MILP model capable of optimising arbitrary bushy tree structures, we address the limitations of existing MILP methods for join ordering, and can rely on highly optimised MILP solvers to derive efficient tree structures that elude competing methods. To ensure optimisation efficiency, we embed our MILP method into a hybrid framework, which applies MILP solvers precisely where they provide the greatest advantage over competitors, while relying on more efficient methods for less complex optimisation steps. Thereby, our approach gracefully scales to extremely large query sizes joining up to 100 relations, and consistently achieves the most robust plan quality among a large variety of competing join ordering methods. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.14778/3778092.3778097 VL - 19 IS - 3 SP - 348 EP - 360 PB - VLDB Endowment ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidbauer, Lukas A1 - Lobe, Elisabeth A1 - Schaefer, Ina A1 - Mauerer, Wolfgang T1 - It’s Quick to be Square: Fast Quadratisation for Quantum Toolchains JF - ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing N2 - Many of the envisioned use-cases for quantum computers involve optimisation processes. While there are many algorithmic primitives to perform the required calculations, all eventually lead to quantum gates operating on quantum bits, with an order as determined by the structure of the objective function and the properties of target hardware. When the structure of the problem representation is not aligned with structure and boundary conditions of the executing hardware, various overheads degrading the computation may arise, possibly negating any possible quantum advantage. Therefore, automatic transformations of problem representations play an important role in quantum computing when descriptions (semi-)targeted at humans must be cast into forms that can be “executed” on quantum computers. Mathematically equivalent formulations are known to result in substantially different non-functional properties depending on hardware, algorithm and detail properties of the problem. Given the current state of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware, these effects are considerably more pronounced than in classical computing. Likewise, efficiency of the transformation itself is relevant because possible quantum advantage may easily be eradicated by the overhead of transforming between representations. In this paper, we consider a specific class of higher-level representations, that is, PUBOs, and devise novel automatic transformation mechanisms into widely used QUBOs that substantially improve efficiency and versatility over the state of the art. In addition, we conduct a comprehensive investigation of industry-relevant problem formulations and their conversion into a quantum-specific representation, identifying significant obstacles in scaling behaviour and demonstrating how these can be circumvented. KW - Algorithmic optimisation KW - Graphs KW - Performance KW - Pseudo Boolean Function Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1145/3800943 N1 - Preprint ebenfalls auf OPUS veröffentlicht: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/7937 VL - 7 IS - 2 PB - ACM ER -