428,628 research outputs found
Separable Concave Optimization Approximately Equals Piecewise-Linear Optimization
We study the problem of minimizing a nonnegative separable concave function
over a compact feasible set. We approximate this problem to within a factor of
1+epsilon by a piecewise-linear minimization problem over the same feasible
set. Our main result is that when the feasible set is a polyhedron, the number
of resulting pieces is polynomial in the input size of the polyhedron and
linear in 1/epsilon. For many practical concave cost problems, the resulting
piecewise-linear cost problem can be formulated as a well-studied discrete
optimization problem. As a result, a variety of polynomial-time exact
algorithms, approximation algorithms, and polynomial-time heuristics for
discrete optimization problems immediately yield fully polynomial-time
approximation schemes, approximation algorithms, and polynomial-time heuristics
for the corresponding concave cost problems.
We illustrate our approach on two problems. For the concave cost
multicommodity flow problem, we devise a new heuristic and study its
performance using computational experiments. We are able to approximately solve
significantly larger test instances than previously possible, and obtain
solutions on average within 4.27% of optimality. For the concave cost facility
location problem, we obtain a new 1.4991+epsilon approximation algorithm.Comment: Full pape
Randomized and Quantum Algorithms Yield a Speed-Up for Initial-Value Problems
Quantum algorithms and complexity have recently been studied not only for
discrete, but also for some numerical problems. Most attention has been paid so
far to the integration problem, for which a speed-up is shown by quantum
computers with respect to deterministic and randomized algorithms on a
classical computer. In this paper we deal with the randomized and quantum
complexity of initial-value problems. For this nonlinear problem, we show that
both randomized and quantum algorithms yield a speed-up over deterministic
algorithms. Upper bounds on the complexity in the randomized and quantum
settings are shown by constructing algorithms with a suitable cost, where the
construction is based on integral information. Lower bounds result from the
respective bounds for the integration problem.Comment: LaTeX v. 2.09, 13 page
PyDEC: Software and Algorithms for Discretization of Exterior Calculus
This paper describes the algorithms, features and implementation of PyDEC, a
Python library for computations related to the discretization of exterior
calculus. PyDEC facilitates inquiry into both physical problems on manifolds as
well as purely topological problems on abstract complexes. We describe
efficient algorithms for constructing the operators and objects that arise in
discrete exterior calculus, lowest order finite element exterior calculus and
in related topological problems. Our algorithms are formulated in terms of
high-level matrix operations which extend to arbitrary dimension. As a result,
our implementations map well to the facilities of numerical libraries such as
NumPy and SciPy. The availability of such libraries makes Python suitable for
prototyping numerical methods. We demonstrate how PyDEC is used to solve
physical and topological problems through several concise examples.Comment: Revised as per referee reports. Added information on scalability,
removed redundant text, emphasized the role of matrix based algorithms,
shortened length of pape
Quantum walks: a comprehensive review
Quantum walks, the quantum mechanical counterpart of classical random walks,
is an advanced tool for building quantum algorithms that has been recently
shown to constitute a universal model of quantum computation. Quantum walks is
now a solid field of research of quantum computation full of exciting open
problems for physicists, computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
In this paper we review theoretical advances on the foundations of both
discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks, together with the role that
randomness plays in quantum walks, the connections between the mathematical
models of coined discrete quantum walks and continuous quantum walks, the
quantumness of quantum walks, a summary of papers published on discrete quantum
walks and entanglement as well as a succinct review of experimental proposals
and realizations of discrete-time quantum walks. Furthermore, we have reviewed
several algorithms based on both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks as
well as a most important result: the computational universality of both
continuous- and discrete- time quantum walks.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in Quantum Information Processing
Journa
Dynamical Optimal Transport on Discrete Surfaces
We propose a technique for interpolating between probability distributions on
discrete surfaces, based on the theory of optimal transport. Unlike previous
attempts that use linear programming, our method is based on a dynamical
formulation of quadratic optimal transport proposed for flat domains by Benamou
and Brenier [2000], adapted to discrete surfaces. Our structure-preserving
construction yields a Riemannian metric on the (finite-dimensional) space of
probability distributions on a discrete surface, which translates the so-called
Otto calculus to discrete language. From a practical perspective, our technique
provides a smooth interpolation between distributions on discrete surfaces with
less diffusion than state-of-the-art algorithms involving entropic
regularization. Beyond interpolation, we show how our discrete notion of
optimal transport extends to other tasks, such as distribution-valued Dirichlet
problems and time integration of gradient flows
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