VLR: A memory-based optimization heuristic

We suggest a novel memory-based metaheuristic optimization algorithm, VLR, which uses a list of already-visited areas to more effectively search for an optimal solution. We chose the Max-cut problem to test its optimization performance, comparing it with state-of-the-art methods.VLRdominates the previous best-performing heuristics.We also undertake preliminary analysis of the algorithm’s parameter space, noting that a larger memory improves performance. VLR was designed as a general-purpose optimization algorithm, so its performance on other problems will be investigated in future.