A quantitative analysis of the simulated annealing algorithm: A case study for the traveling salesman problem

A quantitative study is presented of the typical behavior of the simulated annealing algorithm based on a cooling schedule presented previously by the authors. The study is based on the analysis of numerical results obtained by systematically applying the algorithm to a 100-city traveling salesman problem. The expectation and the variance of the cost are analyzed as a function of the control parameter of the cooling schedule. A semiempirical average-case performance analysis is presented from which estimates are obtained on the expectation of the average final result obtained by the simulated annealing algorithm as a function of the distance parameter, which determines the decrement of the control parameter