4,897 research outputs found
Minimum Cuts in Near-Linear Time
We significantly improve known time bounds for solving the minimum cut
problem on undirected graphs. We use a ``semi-duality'' between minimum cuts
and maximum spanning tree packings combined with our previously developed
random sampling techniques. We give a randomized algorithm that finds a minimum
cut in an m-edge, n-vertex graph with high probability in O(m log^3 n) time. We
also give a simpler randomized algorithm that finds all minimum cuts with high
probability in O(n^2 log n) time. This variant has an optimal RNC
parallelization. Both variants improve on the previous best time bound of O(n^2
log^3 n). Other applications of the tree-packing approach are new, nearly tight
bounds on the number of near minimum cuts a graph may have and a new data
structure for representing them in a space-efficient manner
On Generalizations of Network Design Problems with Degree Bounds
Iterative rounding and relaxation have arguably become the method of choice
in dealing with unconstrained and constrained network design problems. In this
paper we extend the scope of the iterative relaxation method in two directions:
(1) by handling more complex degree constraints in the minimum spanning tree
problem (namely, laminar crossing spanning tree), and (2) by incorporating
`degree bounds' in other combinatorial optimization problems such as matroid
intersection and lattice polyhedra. We give new or improved approximation
algorithms, hardness results, and integrality gaps for these problems.Comment: v2, 24 pages, 4 figure
Graph Sparsification by Edge-Connectivity and Random Spanning Trees
We present new approaches to constructing graph sparsifiers --- weighted
subgraphs for which every cut has the same value as the original graph, up to a
factor of . Our first approach independently samples each
edge with probability inversely proportional to the edge-connectivity
between and . The fact that this approach produces a sparsifier resolves
a question posed by Bencz\'ur and Karger (2002). Concurrent work of Hariharan
and Panigrahi also resolves this question. Our second approach constructs a
sparsifier by forming the union of several uniformly random spanning trees.
Both of our approaches produce sparsifiers with
edges. Our proofs are based on extensions of Karger's contraction algorithm,
which may be of independent interest
k-Trails: Recognition, Complexity, and Approximations
The notion of degree-constrained spanning hierarchies, also called k-trails,
was recently introduced in the context of network routing problems. They
describe graphs that are homomorphic images of connected graphs of degree at
most k. First results highlight several interesting advantages of k-trails
compared to previous routing approaches. However, so far, only little is known
regarding computational aspects of k-trails.
In this work we aim to fill this gap by presenting how k-trails can be
analyzed using techniques from algorithmic matroid theory. Exploiting this
connection, we resolve several open questions about k-trails. In particular, we
show that one can recognize efficiently whether a graph is a k-trail.
Furthermore, we show that deciding whether a graph contains a k-trail is
NP-complete; however, every graph that contains a k-trail is a (k+1)-trail.
Moreover, further leveraging the connection to matroids, we consider the
problem of finding a minimum weight k-trail contained in a graph G. We show
that one can efficiently find a (2k-1)-trail contained in G whose weight is no
more than the cheapest k-trail contained in G, even when allowing negative
weights.
The above results settle several open questions raised by Molnar, Newman, and
Sebo
Almost-Tight Distributed Minimum Cut Algorithms
We study the problem of computing the minimum cut in a weighted distributed
message-passing networks (the CONGEST model). Let be the minimum cut,
be the number of nodes in the network, and be the network diameter. Our
algorithm can compute exactly in time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that
explicitly studies computing the exact minimum cut in the distributed setting.
Previously, non-trivial sublinear time algorithms for this problem are known
only for unweighted graphs when due to Pritchard and
Thurimella's -time and -time algorithms for
computing -edge-connected and -edge-connected components.
By using the edge sampling technique of Karger's, we can convert this
algorithm into a -approximation -time algorithm for any . This improves
over the previous -approximation -time algorithm and
-approximation -time algorithm of Ghaffari and Kuhn. Due to the lower
bound of by Das Sarma et al. which holds for any
approximation algorithm, this running time is tight up to a factor.
To get the stated running time, we developed an approximation algorithm which
combines the ideas of Thorup's algorithm and Matula's contraction algorithm. It
saves an factor as compared to applying Thorup's tree
packing theorem directly. Then, we combine Kutten and Peleg's tree partitioning
algorithm and Karger's dynamic programming to achieve an efficient distributed
algorithm that finds the minimum cut when we are given a spanning tree that
crosses the minimum cut exactly once
A graph-based mathematical morphology reader
This survey paper aims at providing a "literary" anthology of mathematical
morphology on graphs. It describes in the English language many ideas stemming
from a large number of different papers, hence providing a unified view of an
active and diverse field of research
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