12,605 research outputs found
A Combinatorial, Strongly Polynomial-Time Algorithm for Minimizing Submodular Functions
This paper presents the first combinatorial polynomial-time algorithm for
minimizing submodular set functions, answering an open question posed in 1981
by Grotschel, Lovasz, and Schrijver. The algorithm employs a scaling scheme
that uses a flow in the complete directed graph on the underlying set with each
arc capacity equal to the scaled parameter. The resulting algorithm runs in
time bounded by a polynomial in the size of the underlying set and the largest
length of the function value. The paper also presents a strongly
polynomial-time version that runs in time bounded by a polynomial in the size
of the underlying set independent of the function value.Comment: 17 page
Complexity of coalition structure generation
We revisit the coalition structure generation problem in which the goal is to
partition the players into exhaustive and disjoint coalitions so as to maximize
the social welfare. One of our key results is a general polynomial-time
algorithm to solve the problem for all coalitional games provided that player
types are known and the number of player types is bounded by a constant. As a
corollary, we obtain a polynomial-time algorithm to compute an optimal
partition for weighted voting games with a constant number of weight values and
for coalitional skill games with a constant number of skills. We also consider
well-studied and well-motivated coalitional games defined compactly on
combinatorial domains. For these games, we characterize the complexity of
computing an optimal coalition structure by presenting polynomial-time
algorithms, approximation algorithms, or NP-hardness and inapproximability
lower bounds.Comment: 17 page
A strongly polynomial algorithm for generalized flow maximization
A strongly polynomial algorithm is given for the generalized flow
maximization problem. It uses a new variant of the scaling technique, called
continuous scaling. The main measure of progress is that within a strongly
polynomial number of steps, an arc can be identified that must be tight in
every dual optimal solution, and thus can be contracted. As a consequence of
the result, we also obtain a strongly polynomial algorithm for the linear
feasibility problem with at most two nonzero entries per column in the
constraint matrix.Comment: minor correction
Fault-Tolerant Shortest Paths - Beyond the Uniform Failure Model
The overwhelming majority of survivable (fault-tolerant) network design
models assume a uniform scenario set. Such a scenario set assumes that every
subset of the network resources (edges or vertices) of a given cardinality
comprises a scenario. While this approach yields problems with clean
combinatorial structure and good algorithms, it often fails to capture the true
nature of the scenario set coming from applications.
One natural refinement of the uniform model is obtained by partitioning the
set of resources into faulty and secure resources. The scenario set contains
every subset of at most faulty resources. This work studies the
Fault-Tolerant Path (FTP) problem, the counterpart of the Shortest Path problem
in this failure model. We present complexity results alongside exact and
approximation algorithms for FTP. We emphasize the vast increase in the
complexity of the problem with respect to its uniform analogue, the
Edge-Disjoint Paths problem
- …