384 research outputs found
Robust randomized matchings
The following game is played on a weighted graph: Alice selects a matching
and Bob selects a number . Alice's payoff is the ratio of the weight of
the heaviest edges of to the maximum weight of a matching of size at
most . If guarantees a payoff of at least then it is called
-robust. In 2002, Hassin and Rubinstein gave an algorithm that returns
a -robust matching, which is best possible.
We show that Alice can improve her payoff to by playing a
randomized strategy. This result extends to a very general class of
independence systems that includes matroid intersection, b-matchings, and
strong 2-exchange systems. It also implies an improved approximation factor for
a stochastic optimization variant known as the maximum priority matching
problem and translates to an asymptotic robustness guarantee for deterministic
matchings, in which Bob can only select numbers larger than a given constant.
Moreover, we give a new LP-based proof of Hassin and Rubinstein's bound
Weighted Linear Matroid Parity
The matroid parity (or matroid matching) problem, introduced as a common generalization of matching and matroid intersection problems, is so general that it requires an exponential number of oracle calls. Nevertheless, Lovasz (1978) showed that this problem admits a min-max formula and a polynomial algorithm for linearly represented matroids. Since then efficient algorithms have been developed for the linear matroid parity problem.
This talk presents a recently developed polynomial-time algorithm for the weighted linear matroid parity problem. The algorithm builds on a polynomial matrix formulation using Pfaffian and adopts a primal-dual approach based on the augmenting path algorithm of Gabow and Stallmann (1986) for the unweighted problem
Support Sets in Exponential Families and Oriented Matroid Theory
The closure of a discrete exponential family is described by a finite set of
equations corresponding to the circuits of an underlying oriented matroid.
These equations are similar to the equations used in algebraic statistics,
although they need not be polynomial in the general case. This description
allows for a combinatorial study of the possible support sets in the closure of
an exponential family. If two exponential families induce the same oriented
matroid, then their closures have the same support sets. Furthermore, the
positive cocircuits give a parameterization of the closure of the exponential
family.Comment: 27 pages, extended version published in IJA
Determinantal Sieving
We introduce determinantal sieving, a new, remarkably powerful tool in the
toolbox of algebraic FPT algorithms. Given a polynomial on a set of
variables and a linear matroid of
rank , both over a field of characteristic 2, in
evaluations we can sieve for those terms in the monomial expansion of which
are multilinear and whose support is a basis for . Alternatively, using
evaluations of we can sieve for those monomials whose odd support
spans . Applying this framework, we improve on a range of algebraic FPT
algorithms, such as:
1. Solving -Matroid Intersection in time and -Matroid
Parity in time , improving on (Brand and Pratt,
ICALP 2021)
2. -Cycle, Colourful -Path, Colourful -Linkage in undirected
graphs, and the more general Rank -Linkage problem, all in
time, improving on respectively (Fomin et al., SODA 2023)
3. Many instances of the Diverse X paradigm, finding a collection of
solutions to a problem with a minimum mutual distance of in time
, improving solutions for -Distinct Branchings from time
to (Bang-Jensen et al., ESA 2021), and for Diverse
Perfect Matchings from to (Fomin et al.,
STACS 2021)
All matroids are assumed to be represented over a field of characteristic 2.
Over general fields, we achieve similar results at the cost of using
exponential space by working over the exterior algebra. For a class of
arithmetic circuits we call strongly monotone, this is even achieved without
any loss of running time. However, the odd support sieving result appears to be
specific to working over characteristic 2
- …