76 research outputs found
Orbitopal Fixing
The topic of this paper are integer programming models in which a subset of
0/1-variables encode a partitioning of a set of objects into disjoint subsets.
Such models can be surprisingly hard to solve by branch-and-cut algorithms if
the order of the subsets of the partition is irrelevant, since this kind of
symmetry unnecessarily blows up the search tree. We present a general tool,
called orbitopal fixing, for enhancing the capabilities of branch-and-cut
algorithms in solving such symmetric integer programming models. We devise a
linear time algorithm that, applied at each node of the search tree, removes
redundant parts of the tree produced by the above mentioned symmetry. The
method relies on certain polyhedra, called orbitopes, which have been
introduced bei Kaibel and Pfetsch (Math. Programm. A, 114 (2008), 1-36). It
does, however, not explicitly add inequalities to the model. Instead, it uses
certain fixing rules for variables. We demonstrate the computational power of
orbitopal fixing at the example of a graph partitioning problem.Comment: 22 pages, revised and extended version of a previous version that has
appeared under the same title in Proc. IPCO 200
Extended Formulations for Packing and Partitioning Orbitopes
We give compact extended formulations for the packing and partitioning
orbitopes (with respect to the full symmetric group) described and analyzed in
(Kaibel and Pfetsch, 2008). These polytopes are the convex hulls of all
0/1-matrices with lexicographically sorted columns and at most, resp. exactly,
one 1-entry per row. They are important objects for symmetry reduction in
certain integer programs.
Using the extended formulations, we also derive a rather simple proof of the
fact that basically shifted-column inequalities suffice in order to describe
those orbitopes linearly.Comment: 16 page
Optimization bounds from the branching dual
We present a general method for obtaining strong bounds for discrete optimization problems that is based on a concept of branching duality. It can be applied when no useful integer programming model is available, and we illustrate this with the minimum bandwidth problem. The method strengthens a known bound for a given problem by formulating a dual problem whose feasible solutions are partial branching trees. It solves the dual problem with a “worst-bound” local search heuristic that explores neighboring partial trees. After proving some optimality properties of the heuristic, we show that it substantially improves known combinatorial bounds for the minimum bandwidth problem with a modest amount of computation. It also obtains significantly tighter bounds than depth-first and breadth-first branching, demonstrating that the dual perspective can lead to better branching strategies when the object is to find valid bounds.Accepted manuscrip
Algorithms for Highly Symmetric Linear and Integer Programs
This paper deals with exploiting symmetry for solving linear and integer
programming problems. Basic properties of linear representations of finite
groups can be used to reduce symmetric linear programming to solving linear
programs of lower dimension. Combining this approach with knowledge of the
geometry of feasible integer solutions yields an algorithm for solving highly
symmetric integer linear programs which only takes time which is linear in the
number of constraints and quadratic in the dimension.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure; some references and further comments added, title
slightly change
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