1,255 research outputs found
Bi-Criteria and Approximation Algorithms for Restricted Matchings
In this work we study approximation algorithms for the \textit{Bounded Color
Matching} problem (a.k.a. Restricted Matching problem) which is defined as
follows: given a graph in which each edge has a color and a profit
, we want to compute a maximum (cardinality or profit)
matching in which no more than edges of color are
present. This kind of problems, beside the theoretical interest on its own
right, emerges in multi-fiber optical networking systems, where we interpret
each unique wavelength that can travel through the fiber as a color class and
we would like to establish communication between pairs of systems. We study
approximation and bi-criteria algorithms for this problem which are based on
linear programming techniques and, in particular, on polyhedral
characterizations of the natural linear formulation of the problem. In our
setting, we allow violations of the bounds and we model our problem as a
bi-criteria problem: we have two objectives to optimize namely (a) to maximize
the profit (maximum matching) while (b) minimizing the violation of the color
bounds. We prove how we can "beat" the integrality gap of the natural linear
programming formulation of the problem by allowing only a slight violation of
the color bounds. In particular, our main result is \textit{constant}
approximation bounds for both criteria of the corresponding bi-criteria
optimization problem
Locally Stable Marriage with Strict Preferences
We study stable matching problems with locality of information and control.
In our model, each agent is a node in a fixed network and strives to be matched
to another agent. An agent has a complete preference list over all other agents
it can be matched with. Agents can match arbitrarily, and they learn about
possible partners dynamically based on their current neighborhood. We consider
convergence of dynamics to locally stable matchings -- states that are stable
with respect to their imposed information structure in the network. In the
two-sided case of stable marriage in which existence is guaranteed, we show
that the existence of a path to stability becomes NP-hard to decide. This holds
even when the network exists only among one partition of agents. In contrast,
if one partition has no network and agents remember a previous match every
round, a path to stability is guaranteed and random dynamics converge with
probability 1. We characterize this positive result in various ways. For
instance, it holds for random memory and for cache memory with the most recent
partner, but not for cache memory with the best partner. Also, it is crucial
which partition of the agents has memory. Finally, we present results for
centralized computation of locally stable matchings, i.e., computing maximum
locally stable matchings in the two-sided case and deciding existence in the
roommates case.Comment: Conference version in ICALP 2013; to appear in SIAM J. Disc Mat
Inference in particle tracking experiments by passing messages between images
Methods to extract information from the tracking of mobile objects/particles
have broad interest in biological and physical sciences. Techniques based on
simple criteria of proximity in time-consecutive snapshots are useful to
identify the trajectories of the particles. However, they become problematic as
the motility and/or the density of the particles increases due to uncertainties
on the trajectories that particles followed during the images' acquisition
time. Here, we report an efficient method for learning parameters of the
dynamics of the particles from their positions in time-consecutive images. Our
algorithm belongs to the class of message-passing algorithms, known in computer
science, information theory and statistical physics as Belief Propagation (BP).
The algorithm is distributed, thus allowing parallel implementation suitable
for computations on multiple machines without significant inter-machine
overhead. We test our method on the model example of particle tracking in
turbulent flows, which is particularly challenging due to the strong transport
that those flows produce. Our numerical experiments show that the BP algorithm
compares in quality with exact Markov Chain Monte-Carlo algorithms, yet BP is
far superior in speed. We also suggest and analyze a random-distance model that
provides theoretical justification for BP accuracy. Methods developed here
systematically formulate the problem of particle tracking and provide fast and
reliable tools for its extensive range of applications.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure
Distributed local approximation algorithms for maximum matching in graphs and hypergraphs
We describe approximation algorithms in Linial's classic LOCAL model of
distributed computing to find maximum-weight matchings in a hypergraph of rank
. Our main result is a deterministic algorithm to generate a matching which
is an -approximation to the maximum weight matching, running in rounds. (Here, the
notations hides and factors).
This is based on a number of new derandomization techniques extending methods
of Ghaffari, Harris & Kuhn (2017).
As a main application, we obtain nearly-optimal algorithms for the
long-studied problem of maximum-weight graph matching. Specifically, we get a
approximation algorithm using randomized time and deterministic time.
The second application is a faster algorithm for hypergraph maximal matching,
a versatile subroutine introduced in Ghaffari et al. (2017) for a variety of
local graph algorithms. This gives an algorithm for -edge-list
coloring in rounds deterministically or
rounds randomly. Another consequence (with
additional optimizations) is an algorithm which generates an edge-orientation
with out-degree at most for a graph of
arboricity ; for fixed this runs in
rounds deterministically or rounds randomly
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