Online Algorithms for Maximum Cardinality Matching with Edge Arrivals

In the adversarial edge arrival model for maximum cardinality matching, edges of an unknown graph are revealed one-by-one in arbitrary order, and should be irrevocably accepted or rejected. Here, the goal of an online algorithm is to maximize the number of accepted edges while maintaining a feasible matching at any point in time. For this model, the standard greedy heuristic is 1/2-competitive, and on the other hand, no algorithm that outperforms this ratio is currently known, even for very simple graphs. We present a clean Min-Index framework for devising a family of randomized algorithms, and provide a number of positive and negative results in this context. Among these results, we present a 5/9-competitive algorithm when the underlying graph is a forest, and prove that this ratio is best possible within the Min-Index framework. In addition, we prove a new general upper bound of 2/(3+1/phi^2) ~ 0.5914 on the competitiveness of any algorithm in the edge arrival model. Interestingly, this bound holds even for an easier model in which vertices (along with their adjacent edges) arrive online, and when the underlying graph is a tree of maximum degree at most 3

Resource Control for Synchronous Cooperative Threads

We develop new methods to statically bound the resources needed for the execution of systems of concurrent, interactive threads. Our study is concerned with a \emph{synchronous} model of interaction based on cooperative threads whose execution proceeds in synchronous rounds called instants. Our contribution is a system of compositional static analyses to guarantee that each instant terminates and to bound the size of the values computed by the system as a function of the size of its parameters at the beginning of the instant. Our method generalises an approach designed for first-order functional languages that relies on a combination of standard termination techniques for term rewriting systems and an analysis of the size of the computed values based on the notion of quasi-interpretation. We show that these two methods can be combined to obtain an explicit polynomial bound on the resources needed for the execution of the system during an instant. As a second contribution, we introduce a virtual machine and a related bytecode thus producing a precise description of the resources needed for the execution of a system. In this context, we present a suitable control flow analysis that allows to formulte the static analyses for resource control at byte code level