16 research outputs found
Two essays in computational optimization: computing the clar number in fullerene graphs and distributing the errors in iterative interior point methods
Fullerene are cage-like hollow carbon molecules graph of pseudospherical sym-
metry consisting of only pentagons and hexagons faces. It has been the object
of interest for chemists and mathematicians due to its widespread application
in various fields, namely including electronic and optic engineering, medical sci-
ence and biotechnology. A Fullerene molecular, Γ n of n atoms has a multiplicity
of isomers which increases as N iso ∼ O(n 9 ). For instance, Γ 180 has 79,538,751
isomers. The Fries and Clar numbers are stability predictors of a Fullerene
molecule. These number can be computed by solving a (possibly N P -hard)
combinatorial optimization problem. We propose several ILP formulation of
such a problem each yielding a solution algorithm that provides the exact value
of the Fries and Clar numbers. We compare the performances of the algorithm
derived from the proposed ILP formulations. One of this algorithm is used to
find the Clar isomers, i.e., those for which the Clar number is maximum among
all isomers having a given size. We repeated this computational experiment for
all sizes up to 204 atoms. In the course of the study a total of 2 649 413 774
isomers were analyzed.The second essay concerns developing an iterative primal dual infeasible path
following (PDIPF) interior point (IP) algorithm for separable convex quadratic
minimum cost flow network problem. In each iteration of PDIPF algorithm, the
main computational effort is solving the underlying Newton search direction
system. We concentrated on finding the solution of the corresponding linear
system iteratively and inexactly. We assumed that all the involved inequalities
can be solved inexactly and to this purpose, we focused on different approaches
for distributing the error generated by iterative linear solvers such that the
convergences of the PDIPF algorithm are guaranteed. As a result, we achieved
theoretical bases that open the path to further interesting practical investiga-
tion