202 research outputs found
Sparsity-Certifying Graph Decompositions
We describe a new algorithm, the (k, ℓ)-pebble game with colors, and use it to obtain a characterization of the family of (k, ℓ)-sparse graphs and algorithmic solutions to a family of problems concerning tree decompositions of graphs. Special instances of sparse graphs appear in rigidity theory and have received increased attention in recent years. In particular, our colored pebbles generalize and strengthen the previous results of Lee and Streinu [12] and give a new proof of the Tutte-Nash-Williams characterization of arboricity. We also present a new decomposition that certifies sparsity based on the (k, ℓ)-pebble game with colors. Our work also exposes connections between pebble game algorithms and previous sparse graph algorithms by Gabow [5], Gabow and Westermann [6] and Hendrickson [9]
Natural realizations of sparsity matroids
A hypergraph G with n vertices and m hyperedges with d endpoints each is
(k,l)-sparse if for all sub-hypergraphs G' on n' vertices and m' edges, m'\le
kn'-l. For integers k and l satisfying 0\le l\le dk-1, this is known to be a
linearly representable matroidal family.
Motivated by problems in rigidity theory, we give a new linear representation
theorem for the (k,l)-sparse hypergraphs that is natural; i.e., the
representing matrix captures the vertex-edge incidence structure of the
underlying hypergraph G.Comment: Corrected some typos from the previous version; to appear in Ars
Mathematica Contemporane
Generic rigidity with forced symmetry and sparse colored graphs
We review some recent results in the generic rigidity theory of planar
frameworks with forced symmetry, giving a uniform treatment to the topic. We
also give new combinatorial characterizations of minimally rigid periodic
frameworks with fixed-area fundamental domain and fixed-angle fundamental
domain.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure
Algorithms for detecting dependencies and rigid subsystems for CAD
Geometric constraint systems underly popular Computer Aided Design soft-
ware. Automated approaches for detecting dependencies in a design are critical
for developing robust solvers and providing informative user feedback, and we
provide algorithms for two types of dependencies. First, we give a pebble game
algorithm for detecting generic dependencies. Then, we focus on identifying the
"special positions" of a design in which generically independent constraints
become dependent. We present combinatorial algorithms for identifying subgraphs
associated to factors of a particular polynomial, whose vanishing indicates a
special position and resulting dependency. Further factoring in the Grassmann-
Cayley algebra may allow a geometric interpretation giving conditions (e.g.,
"these two lines being parallel cause a dependency") determining the special
position.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figures (v2 is an expanded version of an AGD'14 abstract
based on v1
Slider-pinning Rigidity: a Maxwell-Laman-type Theorem
We define and study slider-pinning rigidity, giving a complete combinatorial
characterization. This is done via direction-slider networks, which are a
generalization of Whiteley's direction networks.Comment: Accepted, to appear in Discrete and Computational Geometr
The Slider-Pinning Problem
A Laman mechanism is a flexible planar bar-and-joint framework with m ≤ 2n-3 edges and exactly k = 2n-m degrees of freedom. The slider-pinning problem is to eliminate all the degrees of freedom of a Laman mechanism, in an optimal fashion, by individually fixing x or y coordinates of vertices. We describe two easy to implement O(n2) time algorithms
Sparsest Cut on Bounded Treewidth Graphs: Algorithms and Hardness Results
We give a 2-approximation algorithm for Non-Uniform Sparsest Cut that runs in
time , where is the treewidth of the graph. This improves on the
previous -approximation in time \poly(n) 2^{O(k)} due to
Chlamt\'a\v{c} et al.
To complement this algorithm, we show the following hardness results: If the
Non-Uniform Sparsest Cut problem has a -approximation for series-parallel
graphs (where ), then the Max Cut problem has an algorithm with
approximation factor arbitrarily close to . Hence, even for such
restricted graphs (which have treewidth 2), the Sparsest Cut problem is NP-hard
to approximate better than for ; assuming the
Unique Games Conjecture the hardness becomes . For
graphs with large (but constant) treewidth, we show a hardness result of assuming the Unique Games Conjecture.
Our algorithm rounds a linear program based on (a subset of) the
Sherali-Adams lift of the standard Sparsest Cut LP. We show that even for
treewidth-2 graphs, the LP has an integrality gap close to 2 even after
polynomially many rounds of Sherali-Adams. Hence our approach cannot be
improved even on such restricted graphs without using a stronger relaxation
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