When does quasi-random work

Abstract. [10, 22] presented various ways for introducing quasi-random numbers or de-randomization in evolution strategies, with in some cases some spectacular claims on the fact that the proposed technique was always and for all criteria better than standard mu-tations. We here focus on the quasi-random trick and see to which extent this technique is efficient, by an in-depth analysis including convergence rates, local minima, plateaus, non-asymptotic behavior and noise. We conclude to the very stable, efficient and straightforward applicability of quasi-random numbers in continuous evolutionary algorithms