18,679 research outputs found
Structural Rounding: Approximation Algorithms for Graphs Near an Algorithmically Tractable Class
We develop a framework for generalizing approximation algorithms from the structural graph algorithm literature so that they apply to graphs somewhat close to that class (a scenario we expect is common when working with real-world networks) while still guaranteeing approximation ratios. The idea is to edit a given graph via vertex- or edge-deletions to put the graph into an algorithmically tractable class, apply known approximation algorithms for that class, and then lift the solution to apply to the original graph. We give a general characterization of when an optimization problem is amenable to this approach, and show that it includes many well-studied graph problems, such as Independent Set, Vertex Cover, Feedback Vertex Set, Minimum Maximal Matching, Chromatic Number, (l-)Dominating Set, Edge (l-)Dominating Set, and Connected Dominating Set.
To enable this framework, we develop new editing algorithms that find the approximately-fewest edits required to bring a given graph into one of a few important graph classes (in some cases these are bicriteria algorithms which simultaneously approximate both the number of editing operations and the target parameter of the family). For bounded degeneracy, we obtain an O(r log{n})-approximation and a bicriteria (4,4)-approximation which also extends to a smoother bicriteria trade-off. For bounded treewidth, we obtain a bicriteria (O(log^{1.5} n), O(sqrt{log w}))-approximation, and for bounded pathwidth, we obtain a bicriteria (O(log^{1.5} n), O(sqrt{log w} * log n))-approximation. For treedepth 2 (related to bounded expansion), we obtain a 4-approximation. We also prove complementary hardness-of-approximation results assuming P != NP: in particular, these problems are all log-factor inapproximable, except the last which is not approximable below some constant factor 2 (assuming UGC)
Approximation Algorithms for Polynomial-Expansion and Low-Density Graphs
We study the family of intersection graphs of low density objects in low
dimensional Euclidean space. This family is quite general, and includes planar
graphs. We prove that such graphs have small separators. Next, we present
efficient -approximation algorithms for these graphs, for
Independent Set, Set Cover, and Dominating Set problems, among others. We also
prove corresponding hardness of approximation for some of these optimization
problems, providing a characterization of their intractability in terms of
density
Near-Optimal Distributed Approximation of Minimum-Weight Connected Dominating Set
This paper presents a near-optimal distributed approximation algorithm for
the minimum-weight connected dominating set (MCDS) problem. The presented
algorithm finds an approximation in rounds,
where is the network diameter and is the number of nodes.
MCDS is a classical NP-hard problem and the achieved approximation factor
is known to be optimal up to a constant factor, unless P=NP.
Furthermore, the round complexity is known to be
optimal modulo logarithmic factors (for any approximation), following [Das
Sarma et al.---STOC'11].Comment: An extended abstract version of this result appears in the
proceedings of 41st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and
Programming (ICALP 2014
Distributed Connectivity Decomposition
We present time-efficient distributed algorithms for decomposing graphs with
large edge or vertex connectivity into multiple spanning or dominating trees,
respectively. As their primary applications, these decompositions allow us to
achieve information flow with size close to the connectivity by parallelizing
it along the trees. More specifically, our distributed decomposition algorithms
are as follows:
(I) A decomposition of each undirected graph with vertex-connectivity
into (fractionally) vertex-disjoint weighted dominating trees with total weight
, in rounds.
(II) A decomposition of each undirected graph with edge-connectivity
into (fractionally) edge-disjoint weighted spanning trees with total
weight , in
rounds.
We also show round complexity lower bounds of
and
for the above two decompositions,
using techniques of [Das Sarma et al., STOC'11]. Moreover, our
vertex-connectivity decomposition extends to centralized algorithms and
improves the time complexity of [Censor-Hillel et al., SODA'14] from
to near-optimal .
As corollaries, we also get distributed oblivious routing broadcast with
-competitive edge-congestion and -competitive
vertex-congestion. Furthermore, the vertex connectivity decomposition leads to
near-time-optimal -approximation of vertex connectivity: centralized
and distributed . The former moves
toward the 1974 conjecture of Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman postulating an
centralized exact algorithm while the latter is the first distributed vertex
connectivity approximation
Data Reductions and Combinatorial Bounds for Improved Approximation Algorithms
Kernelization algorithms in the context of Parameterized Complexity are often
based on a combination of reduction rules and combinatorial insights. We will
expose in this paper a similar strategy for obtaining polynomial-time
approximation algorithms. Our method features the use of
approximation-preserving reductions, akin to the notion of parameterized
reductions. We exemplify this method to obtain the currently best approximation
algorithms for \textsc{Harmless Set}, \textsc{Differential} and
\textsc{Multiple Nonblocker}, all of them can be considered in the context of
securing networks or information propagation
- …