On Minimum Average Stretch Spanning Trees in Polygonal 2-trees

A spanning tree of an unweighted graph is a minimum average stretch spanning tree if it minimizes the ratio of sum of the distances in the tree between the end vertices of the graph edges and the number of graph edges. We consider the problem of computing a minimum average stretch spanning tree in polygonal 2-trees, a super class of 2-connected outerplanar graphs. For a polygonal 2-tree on $n$ vertices, we present an algorithm to compute a minimum average stretch spanning tree in $O(n \log n)$ time. This algorithm also finds a minimum fundamental cycle basis in polygonal 2-trees.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Minimum cycle and homology bases of surface embedded graphs

We study the problems of finding a minimum cycle basis (a minimum weight set of cycles that form a basis for the cycle space) and a minimum homology basis (a minimum weight set of cycles that generates the $1$-dimensional ($\mathbb{Z}_2$)-homology classes) of an undirected graph embedded on a surface. The problems are closely related, because the minimum cycle basis of a graph contains its minimum homology basis, and the minimum homology basis of the $1$-skeleton of any graph is exactly its minimum cycle basis. For the minimum cycle basis problem, we give a deterministic $O(n^\omega+2^{2g}n^2+m)$-time algorithm for graphs embedded on an orientable surface of genus $g$. The best known existing algorithms for surface embedded graphs are those for general graphs: an $O(m^\omega)$ time Monte Carlo algorithm and a deterministic $O(nm^2/\log n + n^2 m)$ time algorithm. For the minimum homology basis problem, we give a deterministic $O((g+b)^3 n \log n + m)$-time algorithm for graphs embedded on an orientable or non-orientable surface of genus $g$ with $b$ boundary components, assuming shortest paths are unique, improving on existing algorithms for many values of $g$ and $n$. The assumption of unique shortest paths can be avoided with high probability using randomization or deterministically by increasing the running time of the homology basis algorithm by a factor of $O(\log n)$.Comment: A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 32nd Annual International Symposium on Computational Geometr

Network protocol scalability via a topological Kadanoff transformation

A natural hierarchical framework for network topology abstraction is presented based on an analogy with the Kadanoff transformation and renormalisation group in theoretical physics. Some properties of the renormalisation group bear similarities to the scalability properties of network routing protocols (interactions). Central to our abstraction are two intimately connected and complementary path diversity units: simple cycles, and cycle adjacencies. A recursive network abstraction procedure is presented, together with an associated generic recursive routing protocol family that offers many desirable features.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, PhysComNet 2008 workshop submissio

Minimum Cycle Basis and All-Pairs Min Cut of a Planar Graph in Subquadratic Time

A minimum cycle basis of a weighted undirected graph $G$ is a basis of the cycle space of $G$ such that the total weight of the cycles in this basis is minimized. If $G$ is a planar graph with non-negative edge weights, such a basis can be found in $O(n^2)$ time and space, where $n$ is the size of $G$. We show that this is optimal if an explicit representation of the basis is required. We then present an $O(n^{3/2}\log n)$ time and $O(n^{3/2})$ space algorithm that computes a minimum cycle basis \emph{implicitly}. From this result, we obtain an output-sensitive algorithm that explicitly computes a minimum cycle basis in $O(n^{3/2}\log n + C)$ time and $O(n^{3/2} + C)$ space, where $C$ is the total size (number of edges and vertices) of the cycles in the basis. These bounds reduce to $O(n^{3/2}\log n)$ and $O(n^{3/2})$, respectively, when $G$ is unweighted. We get similar results for the all-pairs min cut problem since it is dual equivalent to the minimum cycle basis problem for planar graphs. We also obtain $O(n^{3/2}\log n)$ time and $O(n^{3/2})$ space algorithms for finding, respectively, the weight vector and a Gomory-Hu tree of $G$. The previous best time and space bound for these two problems was quadratic. From our Gomory-Hu tree algorithm, we obtain the following result: with $O(n^{3/2}\log n)$ time and $O(n^{3/2})$ space for preprocessing, the weight of a min cut between any two given vertices of $G$ can be reported in constant time. Previously, such an oracle required quadratic time and space for preprocessing. The oracle can also be extended to report the actual cut in time proportional to its size

Integral cycle bases for cyclic timetabling

AbstractCyclic railway timetables are typically modeled by a constraint graph G with a cycle period time T, in which a periodic tension x in G corresponds to a cyclic timetable. In this model, the periodic character of the tension x is guaranteed by requiring periodicity for each cycle in a strictly fundamental cycle basis, that is, the set of cycles generated by the chords of a spanning tree of G.We introduce the more general concept of integral cycle bases for characterizing periodic tensions. We characterize integral cycle bases using the determinant of a cycle basis, and investigate further properties of integral cycle bases.The periodicity of a single cycle is modeled by a so-called cycle integer variable. We exploit the wider class of integral cycle bases to find tighter bounds for these cycle integer variables, and provide various examples with tighter bounds. For cyclic railway timetabling in particular, we consider Minimum Cycle Bases for constructing integral cycle bases with tight bounds

Non-Abelian Analogs of Lattice Rounding

Lattice rounding in Euclidean space can be viewed as finding the nearest point in the orbit of an action by a discrete group, relative to the norm inherited from the ambient space. Using this point of view, we initiate the study of non-abelian analogs of lattice rounding involving matrix groups. In one direction, we give an algorithm for solving a normed word problem when the inputs are random products over a basis set, and give theoretical justification for its success. In another direction, we prove a general inapproximability result which essentially rules out strong approximation algorithms (i.e., whose approximation factors depend only on dimension) analogous to LLL in the general case.Comment: 30 page