2-opt 2026-10-14
A 2-opt tour move removes two boundary arcs and reverses the intervening block to reconnect one tour. Such moves define a local-search neighbourhood; block reversals of length two include adjacent swaps and hence connect permutation schedules. For directed costs the asymmetric 2-opt reversal cost must include every reversed internal arc, not just the boundary changes.
Represent a schedule by a permutation , with . Choose and reverse the block . This is a 2-opt move on the dummy tour. Its exact setup-cost change is the asymmetric 2-opt reversal cost
The internal sum matters because the specified changeovers need not be symmetric. When the block begins at the first job, the boundary terms correctly update the initial setup; the dummy return costs are zero. Processing times cancel.
At temperature , simulated annealing accepts a move with probability
With uniformly sampled reversal pairs the proposal is symmetric, so this is the appropriate Metropolis–Hastings acceptance probability. Improvements and ties are always accepted; occasional uphill moves escape local minima. Repeatedly sample moves, gradually lower , and retain the best schedule seen even if the current schedule worsens. Reversing a block of length two swaps adjacent jobs, so these moves connect the whole permutation space. A cooling schedule, iteration budget and restarts control practical performance. This is a heuristic at a finite budget; it does not certify global optimality unless paired with an exact bound or an appropriate limiting convergence argument.