Approximating subset kk-connectivity problems

A subset $T \subseteq V$ of terminals is $k$-connected to a root $s$ in a directed/undirected graph $J$ if $J$ has $k$ internally-disjoint $vs$-paths for every $v \in T$; $T$ is $k$-connected in $J$ if $T$ is $k$-connected to every $s \in T$. We consider the {\sf Subset $k$-Connectivity Augmentation} problem: given a graph $G=(V,E)$ with edge/node-costs, node subset $T \subseteq V$, and a subgraph $J=(V,E_J)$ of $G$ such that $T$ is $k$-connected in $J$, find a minimum-cost augmenting edge-set $F \subseteq E \setminus E_J$ such that $T$ is $(k+1)$-connected in $J \cup F$. The problem admits trivial ratio $O(|T|^2)$. We consider the case $|T|>k$ and prove that for directed/undirected graphs and edge/node-costs, a $\rho$-approximation for {\sf Rooted Subset $k$-Connectivity Augmentation} implies the following ratios for {\sf Subset $k$-Connectivity Augmentation}: (i) $b(\rho+k) + {(\frac{3|T|}{|T|-k})}^2 H(\frac{3|T|}{|T|-k})$; (ii) $\rho \cdot O(\frac{|T|}{|T|-k} \log k)$, where b=1 for undirected graphs and b=2 for directed graphs, and $H(k)$ is the $k$th harmonic number. The best known values of $\rho$ on undirected graphs are $\min\{|T|,O(k)\}$ for edge-costs and $\min\{|T|,O(k \log |T|)\}$ for node-costs; for directed graphs $\rho=|T|$ for both versions. Our results imply that unless $k=|T|-o(|T|)$, {\sf Subset $k$-Connectivity Augmentation} admits the same ratios as the best known ones for the rooted version. This improves the ratios in \cite{N-focs,L}

Approximating k-Connected m-Dominating Sets

A subset $S$ of nodes in a graph $G$ is a $k$-connected $m$-dominating set ($(k,m)$-cds) if the subgraph $G[S]$ induced by $S$ is $k$-connected and every $v \in V \setminus S$ has at least $m$ neighbors in $S$. In the $k$-Connected $m$-Dominating Set ($(k,m)$-CDS) problem the goal is to find a minimum weight $(k,m)$-cds in a node-weighted graph. For $m \geq k$ we obtain the following approximation ratios. For general graphs our ratio $O(k \ln n)$ improves the previous best ratio $O(k^2 \ln n)$ and matches the best known ratio for unit weights. For unit disc graphs we improve the ratio $O(k \ln k)$ to $\min\left\{\frac{m}{m-k},k^{2/3}\right\} \cdot O(\ln^2 k)$ -- this is the first sublinear ratio for the problem, and the first polylogarithmic ratio $O(\ln^2 k)/\epsilon$ when $m \geq (1+\epsilon)k$; furthermore, we obtain ratio $\min\left\{\frac{m}{m-k},\sqrt{k}\right\} \cdot O(\ln^2 k)$ for uniform weights. These results are obtained by showing the same ratios for the Subset $k$-Connectivity problem when the set $T$ of terminals is an $m$-dominating set with $m \geq k$

A logarithmic approximation algorithm for the activation edge multicover problem

In the Activation Edge-Multicover problem we are given a multigraph $G=(V,E)$ with activation costs $\{c_{e}^u,c_{e}^v\}$ for every edge $e=uv \in E$, and degree requirements $r=\{r_v:v \in V\}$. The goal is to find an edge subset $J \subseteq E$ of minimum activation cost $\sum_{v \in V}\max\{c_{uv}^v:uv \in J\}$,such that every $v \in V$ has at least $r_v$ neighbors in the graph $(V,J)$. Let $k= \max_{v \in V} r_v$ be the maximum requirement and let $\theta=\max_{e=uv \in E} \frac{\max\{c_e^u,c_e^v\}}{\min\{c_e^u,c_e^v\}}$ be the maximum quotient between the two costs of an edge. For $\theta=1$ the problem admits approximation ratio $O(\log k)$. For $k=1$ it generalizes the Set Cover problem (when $\theta=\infty$), and admits a tight approximation ratio $O(\log n)$. This implies approximation ratio $O(k \log n)$ for general $k$ and $\theta$, and no better approximation ratio was known. We obtain the first logarithmic approximation ratio $O(\log k +\log\min\{\theta,n\})$, that bridges between the two known ratios -- $O(\log k)$ for $\theta=1$ and $O(\log n)$ for $k=1$. This implies approximation ratio $O\left(\log k +\log\min\{\theta,n\}\right) +\beta \cdot (\theta+1)$ for the Activation $k$-Connected Subgraph problem, where $\beta$ is the best known approximation ratio for the ordinary min-cost version of the problem

Data Structures for Node Connectivity Queries

Let $\kappa(s,t)$ denote the maximum number of internally disjoint paths in an undirected graph $G$. We consider designing a data structure that includes a list of cuts, and answers the following query: given $s,t \in V$, determine whether $\kappa(s,t) \leq k$, and if so, return a pointer to an $st$-cut of size $\leq k$ (or to a minimum $st$-cut) in the list. A trivial data structure that includes a list of $n(n-1)/2$ cuts and requires $\Theta(kn^2)$ space can answer each query in $O(1)$ time. We obtain the following results. In the case when $G$ is $k$-connected, we show that $n$ cuts suffice, and that these cuts can be partitioned into $(2k+1)$ laminar families. Thus using space $O(kn)$ we can answers each min-cut query in $O(1)$ time, slightly improving and substantially simplifying a recent result of Pettie and Yin. We then extend this data structure to subset $k$-connectivity. In the general case we show that $(2k+1)n$ cuts suffice to return an $st$-cut of size $\leq k$,and a list of size $k(k+2)n$ contains a minimum $st$-cut for every $s,t \in V$. Combining our subset $k$-connectivity data structure with the data structure of Hsu and Lu for checking $k$-connectivity, we give an $O(k^2 n)$ space data structure that returns an $st$-cut of size $\leq k$ in $O(\log k)$ time, while $O(k^3 n)$ space enables to return a minimum $st$-cut

Approximating Minimum-Cost k-Node Connected Subgraphs via Independence-Free Graphs

We present a 6-approximation algorithm for the minimum-cost $k$-node connected spanning subgraph problem, assuming that the number of nodes is at least $k^3(k-1)+k$. We apply a combinatorial preprocessing, based on the Frank-Tardos algorithm for $k$-outconnectivity, to transform any input into an instance such that the iterative rounding method gives a 2-approximation guarantee. This is the first constant-factor approximation algorithm even in the asymptotic setting of the problem, that is, the restriction to instances where the number of nodes is lower bounded by a function of $k$.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, 28 reference