Clique Finder: A Self-Adaptive Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the Maximum Clique Problem

摘要

The Maximum Clique Problem (MCP) is a classical NP-hard problem that has gained considerable attention due to its numerous real-world applications and theoretical complexity. It is inherently computationally complex, and so exact methods may require prohibitive computing time. Nature-inspired meta-heuristics have proven their utility in solving many NP-hard problems. In this research, we propose a simulated annealing-based algorithm that we call Clique Finder algorithm to solve the MCP. Our algorithm uses a logarithmic cooling schedule and two moves that are selected in an adaptive manner. The objective (error) function is the total number of missing links in the clique, which is to be minimized. The proposed algorithm was evaluated using benchmark graphs from the open-source library DIMACS, and results show that the proposed algorithm had a high success rate.