187 research outputs found
Lossy Kernelization
In this paper we propose a new framework for analyzing the performance of
preprocessing algorithms. Our framework builds on the notion of kernelization
from parameterized complexity. However, as opposed to the original notion of
kernelization, our definitions combine well with approximation algorithms and
heuristics. The key new definition is that of a polynomial size
-approximate kernel. Loosely speaking, a polynomial size
-approximate kernel is a polynomial time pre-processing algorithm that
takes as input an instance to a parameterized problem, and outputs
another instance to the same problem, such that . Additionally, for every , a -approximate solution
to the pre-processed instance can be turned in polynomial time into a
-approximate solution to the original instance .
Our main technical contribution are -approximate kernels of
polynomial size for three problems, namely Connected Vertex Cover, Disjoint
Cycle Packing and Disjoint Factors. These problems are known not to admit any
polynomial size kernels unless . Our approximate
kernels simultaneously beat both the lower bounds on the (normal) kernel size,
and the hardness of approximation lower bounds for all three problems. On the
negative side we prove that Longest Path parameterized by the length of the
path and Set Cover parameterized by the universe size do not admit even an
-approximate kernel of polynomial size, for any , unless
. In order to prove this lower bound we need to combine
in a non-trivial way the techniques used for showing kernelization lower bounds
with the methods for showing hardness of approximationComment: 58 pages. Version 2 contain new results: PSAKS for Cycle Packing and
approximate kernel lower bounds for Set Cover and Hitting Set parameterized
by universe siz
Hitting and Harvesting Pumpkins
The "c-pumpkin" is the graph with two vertices linked by c>0 parallel edges.
A c-pumpkin-model in a graph G is a pair A,B of disjoint subsets of vertices of
G, each inducing a connected subgraph of G, such that there are at least c
edges in G between A and B. We focus on covering and packing c-pumpkin-models
in a given graph: On the one hand, we provide an FPT algorithm running in time
2^O(k) n^O(1) deciding, for any fixed c>0, whether all c-pumpkin-models can be
covered by at most k vertices. This generalizes known single-exponential FPT
algorithms for Vertex Cover and Feedback Vertex Set, which correspond to the
cases c=1,2 respectively. On the other hand, we present a O(log
n)-approximation algorithm for both the problems of covering all
c-pumpkin-models with a smallest number of vertices, and packing a maximum
number of vertex-disjoint c-pumpkin-models.Comment: v2: several minor change
Parameterized Approximation Algorithms for Bidirected Steiner Network Problems
The Directed Steiner Network (DSN) problem takes as input a directed
edge-weighted graph and a set of
demand pairs. The aim is to compute the cheapest network for
which there is an path for each . It is known
that this problem is notoriously hard as there is no
-approximation algorithm under Gap-ETH, even when parametrizing
the runtime by [Dinur & Manurangsi, ITCS 2018]. In light of this, we
systematically study several special cases of DSN and determine their
parameterized approximability for the parameter .
For the bi-DSN problem, the aim is to compute a planar
optimum solution in a bidirected graph , i.e., for every edge
of the reverse edge exists and has the same weight. This problem
is a generalization of several well-studied special cases. Our main result is
that this problem admits a parameterized approximation scheme (PAS) for . We
also prove that our result is tight in the sense that (a) the runtime of our
PAS cannot be significantly improved, and (b) it is unlikely that a PAS exists
for any generalization of bi-DSN, unless FPT=W[1].
One important special case of DSN is the Strongly Connected Steiner Subgraph
(SCSS) problem, for which the solution network needs to strongly
connect a given set of terminals. It has been observed before that for SCSS
a parameterized -approximation exists when parameterized by [Chitnis et
al., IPEC 2013]. We give a tight inapproximability result by showing that for
no parameterized -approximation algorithm exists under
Gap-ETH. Additionally we show that when restricting the input of SCSS to
bidirected graphs, the problem remains NP-hard but becomes FPT for
Bidimensionality and Geometric Graphs
In this paper we use several of the key ideas from Bidimensionality to give a
new generic approach to design EPTASs and subexponential time parameterized
algorithms for problems on classes of graphs which are not minor closed, but
instead exhibit a geometric structure. In particular we present EPTASs and
subexponential time parameterized algorithms for Feedback Vertex Set, Vertex
Cover, Connected Vertex Cover, Diamond Hitting Set, on map graphs and unit disk
graphs, and for Cycle Packing and Minimum-Vertex Feedback Edge Set on unit disk
graphs. Our results are based on the recent decomposition theorems proved by
Fomin et al [SODA 2011], and our algorithms work directly on the input graph.
Thus it is not necessary to compute the geometric representations of the input
graph. To the best of our knowledge, these results are previously unknown, with
the exception of the EPTAS and a subexponential time parameterized algorithm on
unit disk graphs for Vertex Cover, which were obtained by Marx [ESA 2005] and
Alber and Fiala [J. Algorithms 2004], respectively.
We proceed to show that our approach can not be extended in its full
generality to more general classes of geometric graphs, such as intersection
graphs of unit balls in R^d, d >= 3. Specifically we prove that Feedback Vertex
Set on unit-ball graphs in R^3 neither admits PTASs unless P=NP, nor
subexponential time algorithms unless the Exponential Time Hypothesis fails.
Additionally, we show that the decomposition theorems which our approach is
based on fail for disk graphs and that therefore any extension of our results
to disk graphs would require new algorithmic ideas. On the other hand, we prove
that our EPTASs and subexponential time algorithms for Vertex Cover and
Connected Vertex Cover carry over both to disk graphs and to unit-ball graphs
in R^d for every fixed d
Finding detours is fixed-parameter tractable
We consider the following natural "above guarantee" parameterization of the
classical Longest Path problem: For given vertices s and t of a graph G, and an
integer k, the problem Longest Detour asks for an (s,t)-path in G that is at
least k longer than a shortest (s,t)-path. Using insights into structural graph
theory, we prove that Longest Detour is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) on
undirected graphs and actually even admits a single-exponential algorithm, that
is, one of running time exp(O(k)) poly(n). This matches (up to the base of the
exponential) the best algorithms for finding a path of length at least k.
Furthermore, we study the related problem Exact Detour that asks whether a
graph G contains an (s,t)-path that is exactly k longer than a shortest
(s,t)-path. For this problem, we obtain a randomized algorithm with running
time about 2.746^k, and a deterministic algorithm with running time about
6.745^k, showing that this problem is FPT as well. Our algorithms for Exact
Detour apply to both undirected and directed graphs.Comment: Extended abstract appears at ICALP 201
Topics in Graph Algorithms: Structural Results and Algorithmic Techniques, with Applications
Coping with computational intractability has inspired the development of a variety of algorithmic techniques. The main challenge has usually been the design of polynomial time algorithms for NP-complete problems in a way that guarantees some, often worst-case, satisfactory performance when compared to exact (optimal) solutions. We mainly study some emergent techniques that help to bridge the gap between computational intractability and practicality. We present results that lead to better exact and approximation algorithms and better implementations. The problems considered in this dissertation share much in common structurally, and have applications in several scientific domains, including circuit design, network reliability, and bioinformatics. We begin by considering the relationship between graph coloring and the immersion order, a well-quasi-order defined on the set of finite graphs. We establish several (structural) results and discuss their potential algorithmic consequences. We discuss graph metrics such as treewidth and pathwidth. Treewidth is well studied, mainly because many problems that are NP-hard in general have polynomial time algorithms when restricted to graphs of bounded treewidth. Pathwidth has many applications ranging from circuit layout to natural language processing. We present a linear time algorithm to approximate the pathwidth of planar graphs that have a fixed disk dimension. We consider the face cover problem, which has potential applications in facilities location and logistics. Being fixed-parameter tractable, we develop an algorithm that solves it in time O(5k + n2) where k is the input parameter. This is a notable improvement over the previous best known algorithm, which runs in O(8kn). In addition to the structural and algorithmic results, this text tries to illustrate the practicality of fixed-parameter algorithms. This is achieved by implementing some algorithms for the vertex cover problem, and conducting experiments on real data sets. Our experiments advocate the viewpoint that, for many practical purposes, exact solutions of some NP-complete problems are affordable
FPT is Characterized by Useful Obstruction Sets
Many graph problems were first shown to be fixed-parameter tractable using
the results of Robertson and Seymour on graph minors. We show that the
combination of finite, computable, obstruction sets and efficient order tests
is not just one way of obtaining strongly uniform FPT algorithms, but that all
of FPT may be captured in this way. Our new characterization of FPT has a
strong connection to the theory of kernelization, as we prove that problems
with polynomial kernels can be characterized by obstruction sets whose elements
have polynomial size. Consequently we investigate the interplay between the
sizes of problem kernels and the sizes of the elements of such obstruction
sets, obtaining several examples of how results in one area yield new insights
in the other. We show how exponential-size minor-minimal obstructions for
pathwidth k form the crucial ingredient in a novel OR-cross-composition for
k-Pathwidth, complementing the trivial AND-composition that is known for this
problem. In the other direction, we show that OR-cross-compositions into a
parameterized problem can be used to rule out the existence of efficiently
generated quasi-orders on its instances that characterize the NO-instances by
polynomial-size obstructions.Comment: Extended abstract with appendix, as accepted to WG 201
Complexity of Token Swapping and its Variants
In the Token Swapping problem we are given a graph with a token placed on
each vertex. Each token has exactly one destination vertex, and we try to move
all the tokens to their destinations, using the minimum number of swaps, i.e.,
operations of exchanging the tokens on two adjacent vertices. As the main
result of this paper, we show that Token Swapping is -hard parameterized
by the length of a shortest sequence of swaps. In fact, we prove that, for
any computable function , it cannot be solved in time where is the number of vertices of the input graph, unless the ETH
fails. This lower bound almost matches the trivial -time algorithm.
We also consider two generalizations of the Token Swapping, namely Colored
Token Swapping (where the tokens have different colors and tokens of the same
color are indistinguishable), and Subset Token Swapping (where each token has a
set of possible destinations). To complement the hardness result, we prove that
even the most general variant, Subset Token Swapping, is FPT in nowhere-dense
graph classes.
Finally, we consider the complexities of all three problems in very
restricted classes of graphs: graphs of bounded treewidth and diameter, stars,
cliques, and paths, trying to identify the borderlines between polynomial and
NP-hard cases.Comment: 23 pages, 7 Figure
- …