380 research outputs found
Approximation Algorithms for Union and Intersection Covering Problems
In a classical covering problem, we are given a set of requests that we need
to satisfy (fully or partially), by buying a subset of items at minimum cost.
For example, in the k-MST problem we want to find the cheapest tree spanning at
least k nodes of an edge-weighted graph. Here nodes and edges represent
requests and items, respectively.
In this paper, we initiate the study of a new family of multi-layer covering
problems. Each such problem consists of a collection of h distinct instances of
a standard covering problem (layers), with the constraint that all layers share
the same set of requests. We identify two main subfamilies of these problems: -
in a union multi-layer problem, a request is satisfied if it is satisfied in at
least one layer; - in an intersection multi-layer problem, a request is
satisfied if it is satisfied in all layers. To see some natural applications,
consider both generalizations of k-MST. Union k-MST can model a problem where
we are asked to connect a set of users to at least one of two communication
networks, e.g., a wireless and a wired network. On the other hand, intersection
k-MST can formalize the problem of connecting a subset of users to both
electricity and water.
We present a number of hardness and approximation results for union and
intersection versions of several standard optimization problems: MST, Steiner
tree, set cover, facility location, TSP, and their partial covering variants
Finding Connected Dense -Subgraphs
Given a connected graph on vertices and a positive integer ,
a subgraph of on vertices is called a -subgraph in . We design
combinatorial approximation algorithms for finding a connected -subgraph in
such that its density is at least a factor
of the density of the densest -subgraph
in (which is not necessarily connected). These particularly provide the
first non-trivial approximations for the densest connected -subgraph problem
on general graphs
Core Decomposition in Multilayer Networks: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications
Multilayer networks are a powerful paradigm to model complex systems, where
multiple relations occur between the same entities. Despite the keen interest
in a variety of tasks, algorithms, and analyses in this type of network, the
problem of extracting dense subgraphs has remained largely unexplored so far.
In this work we study the problem of core decomposition of a multilayer
network. The multilayer context is much challenging as no total order exists
among multilayer cores; rather, they form a lattice whose size is exponential
in the number of layers. In this setting we devise three algorithms which
differ in the way they visit the core lattice and in their pruning techniques.
We then move a step forward and study the problem of extracting the
inner-most (also known as maximal) cores, i.e., the cores that are not
dominated by any other core in terms of their core index in all the layers.
Inner-most cores are typically orders of magnitude less than all the cores.
Motivated by this, we devise an algorithm that effectively exploits the
maximality property and extracts inner-most cores directly, without first
computing a complete decomposition.
Finally, we showcase the multilayer core-decomposition tool in a variety of
scenarios and problems. We start by considering the problem of densest-subgraph
extraction in multilayer networks. We introduce a definition of multilayer
densest subgraph that trades-off between high density and number of layers in
which the high density holds, and exploit multilayer core decomposition to
approximate this problem with quality guarantees. As further applications, we
show how to utilize multilayer core decomposition to speed-up the extraction of
frequent cross-graph quasi-cliques and to generalize the community-search
problem to the multilayer setting
Detecting High Log-Densities -- an O(n^1/4) Approximation for Densest k-Subgraph
In the Densest k-Subgraph problem, given a graph G and a parameter k, one
needs to find a subgraph of G induced on k vertices that contains the largest
number of edges. There is a significant gap between the best known upper and
lower bounds for this problem. It is NP-hard, and does not have a PTAS unless
NP has subexponential time algorithms. On the other hand, the current best
known algorithm of Feige, Kortsarz and Peleg, gives an approximation ratio of
n^(1/3-epsilon) for some specific epsilon > 0 (estimated at around 1/60).
We present an algorithm that for every epsilon > 0 approximates the Densest
k-Subgraph problem within a ratio of n^(1/4+epsilon) in time n^O(1/epsilon). In
particular, our algorithm achieves an approximation ratio of O(n^1/4) in time
n^O(log n). Our algorithm is inspired by studying an average-case version of
the problem where the goal is to distinguish random graphs from graphs with
planted dense subgraphs. The approximation ratio we achieve for the general
case matches the distinguishing ratio we obtain for this planted problem.
At a high level, our algorithms involve cleverly counting appropriately
defined trees of constant size in G, and using these counts to identify the
vertices of the dense subgraph. Our algorithm is based on the following
principle. We say that a graph G(V,E) has log-density alpha if its average
degree is Theta(|V|^alpha). The algorithmic core of our result is a family of
algorithms that output k-subgraphs of nontrivial density whenever the
log-density of the densest k-subgraph is larger than the log-density of the
host graph.Comment: 23 page
The Maximum Exposure Problem
Given a set of points P and axis-aligned rectangles R in the plane, a point p in P is called exposed if it lies outside all rectangles in R. In the max-exposure problem, given an integer parameter k, we want to delete k rectangles from R so as to maximize the number of exposed points. We show that the problem is NP-hard and assuming plausible complexity conjectures is also hard to approximate even when rectangles in R are translates of two fixed rectangles. However, if R only consists of translates of a single rectangle, we present a polynomial-time approximation scheme. For general rectangle range space, we present a simple O(k) bicriteria approximation algorithm; that is by deleting O(k^2) rectangles, we can expose at least Omega(1/k) of the optimal number of points
From Gap-ETH to FPT-Inapproximability: Clique, Dominating Set, and More
We consider questions that arise from the intersection between the areas of
polynomial-time approximation algorithms, subexponential-time algorithms, and
fixed-parameter tractable algorithms. The questions, which have been asked
several times (e.g., [Marx08, FGMS12, DF13]), are whether there is a
non-trivial FPT-approximation algorithm for the Maximum Clique (Clique) and
Minimum Dominating Set (DomSet) problems parameterized by the size of the
optimal solution. In particular, letting be the optimum and be
the size of the input, is there an algorithm that runs in
time and outputs a solution of size
, for any functions and that are independent of (for
Clique, we want )?
In this paper, we show that both Clique and DomSet admit no non-trivial
FPT-approximation algorithm, i.e., there is no
-FPT-approximation algorithm for Clique and no
-FPT-approximation algorithm for DomSet, for any function
(e.g., this holds even if is the Ackermann function). In fact, our results
imply something even stronger: The best way to solve Clique and DomSet, even
approximately, is to essentially enumerate all possibilities. Our results hold
under the Gap Exponential Time Hypothesis (Gap-ETH) [Dinur16, MR16], which
states that no -time algorithm can distinguish between a satisfiable
3SAT formula and one which is not even -satisfiable for some
constant .
Besides Clique and DomSet, we also rule out non-trivial FPT-approximation for
Maximum Balanced Biclique, Maximum Subgraphs with Hereditary Properties, and
Maximum Induced Matching in bipartite graphs. Additionally, we rule out
-FPT-approximation algorithm for Densest -Subgraph although this
ratio does not yet match the trivial -approximation algorithm.Comment: 43 pages. To appear in FOCS'1
Inapproximability of Maximum Biclique Problems, Minimum -Cut and Densest At-Least--Subgraph from the Small Set Expansion Hypothesis
The Small Set Expansion Hypothesis (SSEH) is a conjecture which roughly
states that it is NP-hard to distinguish between a graph with a small subset of
vertices whose edge expansion is almost zero and one in which all small subsets
of vertices have expansion almost one. In this work, we prove inapproximability
results for the following graph problems based on this hypothesis:
- Maximum Edge Biclique (MEB): given a bipartite graph , find a complete
bipartite subgraph of with maximum number of edges.
- Maximum Balanced Biclique (MBB): given a bipartite graph , find a
balanced complete bipartite subgraph of with maximum number of vertices.
- Minimum -Cut: given a weighted graph , find a set of edges with
minimum total weight whose removal partitions into connected
components.
- Densest At-Least--Subgraph (DALS): given a weighted graph , find a
set of at least vertices such that the induced subgraph on has
maximum density (the ratio between the total weight of edges and the number of
vertices).
We show that, assuming SSEH and NP BPP, no polynomial time
algorithm gives -approximation for MEB or MBB for every
constant . Moreover, assuming SSEH, we show that it is NP-hard
to approximate Minimum -Cut and DALS to within factor
of the optimum for every constant .
The ratios in our results are essentially tight since trivial algorithms give
-approximation to both MEB and MBB and efficient -approximation
algorithms are known for Minimum -Cut [SV95] and DALS [And07, KS09].
Our first result is proved by combining a technique developed by Raghavendra
et al. [RST12] to avoid locality of gadget reductions with a generalization of
Bansal and Khot's long code test [BK09] whereas our second result is shown via
elementary reductions.Comment: A preliminary version of this work will appear at ICALP 2017 under a
different title "Inapproximability of Maximum Edge Biclique, Maximum Balanced
Biclique and Minimum k-Cut from the Small Set Expansion Hypothesis
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