Exponential speedup of quantum algorithms for the pathfinding problem

Abstract

Given x, y on an unweighted undirected graph G, the goal of the pathfinding problem is to find an x–y path. In this work, we first construct a graph G based on welded trees and define a pathfinding problem in the adjacency list oracle O. Then we provide an efficient quantum algorithm to find an x–y path in the graph G. Finally, we prove that no classical algorithm can find an x–y path in subexponential time with high probability. The pathfinding problem is one of the fundamental graph-related problems. Our findings suggest that quantum algorithms could potentially offer advantages in more types of graphs to solve the pathfinding problem.