764 research outputs found
Discrete Convex Functions on Graphs and Their Algorithmic Applications
The present article is an exposition of a theory of discrete convex functions
on certain graph structures, developed by the author in recent years. This
theory is a spin-off of discrete convex analysis by Murota, and is motivated by
combinatorial dualities in multiflow problems and the complexity classification
of facility location problems on graphs. We outline the theory and algorithmic
applications in combinatorial optimization problems
Tangle-tree duality: in graphs, matroids and beyond
We apply a recent duality theorem for tangles in abstract separation systems
to derive tangle-type duality theorems for width-parameters in graphs and
matroids. We further derive a duality theorem for the existence of clusters in
large data sets.
Our applications to graphs include new, tangle-type, duality theorems for
tree-width, path-width, and tree-decompositions of small adhesion. Conversely,
we show that carving width is dual to edge-tangles. For matroids we obtain a
duality theorem for tree-width.
Our results can be used to derive short proofs of all the classical duality
theorems for width parameters in graph minor theory, such as path-width,
tree-width, branch-width and rank-width.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.379
Generalized Permutohedra from Probabilistic Graphical Models
A graphical model encodes conditional independence relations via the Markov
properties. For an undirected graph these conditional independence relations
can be represented by a simple polytope known as the graph associahedron, which
can be constructed as a Minkowski sum of standard simplices. There is an
analogous polytope for conditional independence relations coming from a regular
Gaussian model, and it can be defined using multiinformation or relative
entropy. For directed acyclic graphical models and also for mixed graphical
models containing undirected, directed and bidirected edges, we give a
construction of this polytope, up to equivalence of normal fans, as a Minkowski
sum of matroid polytopes. Finally, we apply this geometric insight to construct
a new ordering-based search algorithm for causal inference via directed acyclic
graphical models.Comment: Appendix B is expanded. Final version to appear in SIAM J. Discrete
Mat
Duality between Feature Selection and Data Clustering
The feature-selection problem is formulated from an information-theoretic
perspective. We show that the problem can be efficiently solved by an extension
of the recently proposed info-clustering paradigm. This reveals the fundamental
duality between feature selection and data clustering,which is a consequence of
the more general duality between the principal partition and the principal
lattice of partitions in combinatorial optimization
Structured Sparsity: Discrete and Convex approaches
Compressive sensing (CS) exploits sparsity to recover sparse or compressible
signals from dimensionality reducing, non-adaptive sensing mechanisms. Sparsity
is also used to enhance interpretability in machine learning and statistics
applications: While the ambient dimension is vast in modern data analysis
problems, the relevant information therein typically resides in a much lower
dimensional space. However, many solutions proposed nowadays do not leverage
the true underlying structure. Recent results in CS extend the simple sparsity
idea to more sophisticated {\em structured} sparsity models, which describe the
interdependency between the nonzero components of a signal, allowing to
increase the interpretability of the results and lead to better recovery
performance. In order to better understand the impact of structured sparsity,
in this chapter we analyze the connections between the discrete models and
their convex relaxations, highlighting their relative advantages. We start with
the general group sparse model and then elaborate on two important special
cases: the dispersive and the hierarchical models. For each, we present the
models in their discrete nature, discuss how to solve the ensuing discrete
problems and then describe convex relaxations. We also consider more general
structures as defined by set functions and present their convex proxies.
Further, we discuss efficient optimization solutions for structured sparsity
problems and illustrate structured sparsity in action via three applications.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figure
Polytopal realizations of finite type -vector fans
This paper shows the polytopality of any finite type -vector fan,
acyclic or not. In fact, for any finite Dynkin type , we construct a
universal associahedron with the property
that any -vector fan of type is the normal fan of a
suitable projection of .Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures; Version 2: Minor changes in the introductio
On the Convergence Rate of Decomposable Submodular Function Minimization
Submodular functions describe a variety of discrete problems in machine
learning, signal processing, and computer vision. However, minimizing
submodular functions poses a number of algorithmic challenges. Recent work
introduced an easy-to-use, parallelizable algorithm for minimizing submodular
functions that decompose as the sum of "simple" submodular functions.
Empirically, this algorithm performs extremely well, but no theoretical
analysis was given. In this paper, we show that the algorithm converges
linearly, and we provide upper and lower bounds on the rate of convergence. Our
proof relies on the geometry of submodular polyhedra and draws on results from
spectral graph theory.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
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