7,494 research outputs found
A node-capacitated Okamura-Seymour theorem
The classical Okamura-Seymour theorem states that for an edge-capacitated,
multi-commodity flow instance in which all terminals lie on a single face of a
planar graph, there exists a feasible concurrent flow if and only if the cut
conditions are satisfied. Simple examples show that a similar theorem is
impossible in the node-capacitated setting. Nevertheless, we prove that an
approximate flow/cut theorem does hold: For some universal c > 0, if the node
cut conditions are satisfied, then one can simultaneously route a c-fraction of
all the demands. This answers an open question of Chekuri and Kawarabayashi.
More generally, we show that this holds in the setting of multi-commodity
polymatroid networks introduced by Chekuri, et. al. Our approach employs a new
type of random metric embedding in order to round the convex programs
corresponding to these more general flow problems.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figure
Maximum Edge-Disjoint Paths in -sums of Graphs
We consider the approximability of the maximum edge-disjoint paths problem
(MEDP) in undirected graphs, and in particular, the integrality gap of the
natural multicommodity flow based relaxation for it. The integrality gap is
known to be even for planar graphs due to a simple
topological obstruction and a major focus, following earlier work, has been
understanding the gap if some constant congestion is allowed.
In this context, it is natural to ask for which classes of graphs does a
constant-factor constant-congestion property hold. It is easy to deduce that
for given constant bounds on the approximation and congestion, the class of
"nice" graphs is nor-closed. Is the converse true? Does every proper
minor-closed family of graphs exhibit a constant factor, constant congestion
bound relative to the LP relaxation? We conjecture that the answer is yes.
One stumbling block has been that such bounds were not known for bounded
treewidth graphs (or even treewidth 3). In this paper we give a polytime
algorithm which takes a fractional routing solution in a graph of bounded
treewidth and is able to integrally route a constant fraction of the LP
solution's value. Note that we do not incur any edge congestion. Previously
this was not known even for series parallel graphs which have treewidth 2. The
algorithm is based on a more general argument that applies to -sums of
graphs in some graph family, as long as the graph family has a constant factor,
constant congestion bound. We then use this to show that such bounds hold for
the class of -sums of bounded genus graphs
Approximating Maximum Integral Multiflows on Bounded Genus Graphs
We devise the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for finding an integral multi-commodity flow of maximum total value for instances where the supply graph together with the demand edges can be embedded on an orientable surface of bounded genus. This extends recent results for planar instances. Our techniques include an uncrossing algorithm, which is significantly more difficult than in the planar case, a partition of the cycles in the support of an LP solution into free homotopy classes, and a new rounding procedure for freely homotopic non-separating cycles
Approximating maximum integral multiflows on bounded genus graphs
We devise the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for finding an integral multi-commodity flow of maximum total value for instances where the supply graph together with the demand edges can be embedded on an orientable surface of bounded genus. This extends recent results for planar instances
The twin-debt problem in an interdependent world
Government Expenditure;External Debt;monetary economics
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