47,047 research outputs found
Max -Flow Oracles and Negative Cycle Detection in Planar Digraphs
We study the maximum -flow oracle problem on planar directed graphs
where the goal is to design a data structure answering max -flow value (or
equivalently, min -cut value) queries for arbitrary source-target pairs
. For the case of polynomially bounded integer edge capacities, we
describe an exact max -flow oracle with truly subquadratic space and
preprocessing, and sublinear query time. Moreover, if
-approximate answers are acceptable, we obtain a static oracle
with near-linear preprocessing and query time and a
dynamic oracle supporting edge capacity updates and queries in
worst-case time.
To the best of our knowledge, for directed planar graphs, no (approximate)
max -flow oracles have been described even in the unweighted case, and
only trivial tradeoffs involving either no preprocessing or precomputing all
the possible answers have been known.
One key technical tool we develop on the way is a sublinear (in the number of
edges) algorithm for finding a negative cycle in so-called dense distance
graphs. By plugging it in earlier frameworks, we obtain improved bounds for
other fundamental problems on planar digraphs. In particular, we show: (1) a
deterministic time algorithm for negatively-weighted SSSP in
planar digraphs with integer edge weights at least . This improves upon the
previously known bounds in the important case of weights polynomial in , and
(2) an improved bound on finding a perfect matching in a
bipartite planar graph.Comment: Extended abstract to appear in SODA 202
Vertex Sparsifiers: New Results from Old Techniques
Given a capacitated graph and a set of terminals ,
how should we produce a graph only on the terminals so that every
(multicommodity) flow between the terminals in could be supported in
with low congestion, and vice versa? (Such a graph is called a
flow-sparsifier for .) What if we want to be a "simple" graph? What if
we allow to be a convex combination of simple graphs?
Improving on results of Moitra [FOCS 2009] and Leighton and Moitra [STOC
2010], we give efficient algorithms for constructing: (a) a flow-sparsifier
that maintains congestion up to a factor of , where , (b) a convex combination of trees over the terminals that maintains
congestion up to a factor of , and (c) for a planar graph , a
convex combination of planar graphs that maintains congestion up to a constant
factor. This requires us to give a new algorithm for the 0-extension problem,
the first one in which the preimages of each terminal are connected in .
Moreover, this result extends to minor-closed families of graphs.
Our improved bounds immediately imply improved approximation guarantees for
several terminal-based cut and ordering problems.Comment: An extended abstract appears in the 13th International Workshop on
Approximation Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems (APPROX),
2010. Final version to appear in SIAM J. Computin
Beyond Bidimensionality: Parameterized Subexponential Algorithms on Directed Graphs
We develop two different methods to achieve subexponential time parameterized
algorithms for problems on sparse directed graphs. We exemplify our approaches
with two well studied problems.
For the first problem, {\sc -Leaf Out-Branching}, which is to find an
oriented spanning tree with at least leaves, we obtain an algorithm solving
the problem in time on directed graphs
whose underlying undirected graph excludes some fixed graph as a minor. For
the special case when the input directed graph is planar, the running time can
be improved to . The second example is a
generalization of the {\sc Directed Hamiltonian Path} problem, namely {\sc
-Internal Out-Branching}, which is to find an oriented spanning tree with at
least internal vertices. We obtain an algorithm solving the problem in time
on directed graphs whose underlying
undirected graph excludes some fixed apex graph as a minor. Finally, we
observe that for any , the {\sc -Directed Path} problem is
solvable in time , where is some
function of \ve.
Our methods are based on non-trivial combinations of obstruction theorems for
undirected graphs, kernelization, problem specific combinatorial structures and
a layering technique similar to the one employed by Baker to obtain PTAS for
planar graphs
A Polynomial-time Bicriteria Approximation Scheme for Planar Bisection
Given an undirected graph with edge costs and node weights, the minimum
bisection problem asks for a partition of the nodes into two parts of equal
weight such that the sum of edge costs between the parts is minimized. We give
a polynomial time bicriteria approximation scheme for bisection on planar
graphs.
Specifically, let be the total weight of all nodes in a planar graph .
For any constant , our algorithm outputs a bipartition of the
nodes such that each part weighs at most and the total cost
of edges crossing the partition is at most times the total
cost of the optimal bisection. The previously best known approximation for
planar minimum bisection, even with unit node weights, was . Our
algorithm actually solves a more general problem where the input may include a
target weight for the smaller side of the bipartition.Comment: To appear in STOC 201
Maximum Edge-Disjoint Paths in -sums of Graphs
We consider the approximability of the maximum edge-disjoint paths problem
(MEDP) in undirected graphs, and in particular, the integrality gap of the
natural multicommodity flow based relaxation for it. The integrality gap is
known to be even for planar graphs due to a simple
topological obstruction and a major focus, following earlier work, has been
understanding the gap if some constant congestion is allowed.
In this context, it is natural to ask for which classes of graphs does a
constant-factor constant-congestion property hold. It is easy to deduce that
for given constant bounds on the approximation and congestion, the class of
"nice" graphs is nor-closed. Is the converse true? Does every proper
minor-closed family of graphs exhibit a constant factor, constant congestion
bound relative to the LP relaxation? We conjecture that the answer is yes.
One stumbling block has been that such bounds were not known for bounded
treewidth graphs (or even treewidth 3). In this paper we give a polytime
algorithm which takes a fractional routing solution in a graph of bounded
treewidth and is able to integrally route a constant fraction of the LP
solution's value. Note that we do not incur any edge congestion. Previously
this was not known even for series parallel graphs which have treewidth 2. The
algorithm is based on a more general argument that applies to -sums of
graphs in some graph family, as long as the graph family has a constant factor,
constant congestion bound. We then use this to show that such bounds hold for
the class of -sums of bounded genus graphs
On Graph Crossing Number and Edge Planarization
Given an n-vertex graph G, a drawing of G in the plane is a mapping of its
vertices into points of the plane, and its edges into continuous curves,
connecting the images of their endpoints. A crossing in such a drawing is a
point where two such curves intersect. In the Minimum Crossing Number problem,
the goal is to find a drawing of G with minimum number of crossings. The value
of the optimal solution, denoted by OPT, is called the graph's crossing number.
This is a very basic problem in topological graph theory, that has received a
significant amount of attention, but is still poorly understood
algorithmically. The best currently known efficient algorithm produces drawings
with crossings on bounded-degree graphs, while only a
constant factor hardness of approximation is known. A closely related problem
is Minimum Edge Planarization, in which the goal is to remove a
minimum-cardinality subset of edges from G, such that the remaining graph is
planar. Our main technical result establishes the following connection between
the two problems: if we are given a solution of cost k to the Minimum Edge
Planarization problem on graph G, then we can efficiently find a drawing of G
with at most \poly(d)\cdot k\cdot (k+OPT) crossings, where is the maximum
degree in G. This result implies an O(n\cdot \poly(d)\cdot
\log^{3/2}n)-approximation for Minimum Crossing Number, as well as improved
algorithms for special cases of the problem, such as, for example, k-apex and
bounded-genus graphs
On Directed Feedback Vertex Set parameterized by treewidth
We study the Directed Feedback Vertex Set problem parameterized by the
treewidth of the input graph. We prove that unless the Exponential Time
Hypothesis fails, the problem cannot be solved in time on general directed graphs, where is the treewidth of
the underlying undirected graph. This is matched by a dynamic programming
algorithm with running time .
On the other hand, we show that if the input digraph is planar, then the
running time can be improved to .Comment: 20
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