17,769 research outputs found
Stabilizing Weighted Graphs
An edge-weighted graph G=(V,E) is called stable if the value of a maximum-weight matching equals the value of a maximum-weight fractional matching. Stable graphs play an important role in some interesting game theory problems, such as network bargaining games and cooperative matching games, because they characterize instances which admit stable outcomes. Motivated by this, in the last few years many researchers have investigated the algorithmic problem of turning a given graph into a stable one, via edge- and vertex-removal operations. However, all the algorithmic results developed in the literature so far only hold for unweighted instances, i.e., assuming unit weights on the edges of G.
We give the first polynomial-time algorithm to find a minimum cardinality subset of vertices whose removal from G yields a stable graph, for any weighted graph G. The algorithm is combinatorial and exploits new structural properties of basic fractional matchings, which are of independent interest. In particular, one of the main ingredients of our result is the development of a polynomial-time algorithm to compute a basic maximum-weight fractional matching with minimum number of odd cycles in its support. This generalizes a fundamental and classical result on unweighted matchings given by Balas more than 30 years ago, which we expect to prove useful beyond this particular application.
In contrast, we show that the problem of finding a minimum cardinality subset of edges whose removal from a weighted graph G yields a stable graph, does not admit any constant-factor approximation algorithm, unless P=NP. In this setting, we develop an O(Delta)-approximation algorithm for the problem, where Delta is the maximum degree of a node in G
Design of Self-Stabilizing Approximation Algorithms via a Primal-Dual Approach
Self-stabilization is an important concept in the realm of fault-tolerant distributed computing. In this paper, we propose a new approach that relies on the properties of linear programming duality to obtain self-stabilizing approximation algorithms for distributed graph optimization problems. The power of this new approach is demonstrated by the following results:
- A self-stabilizing 2(1+?)-approximation algorithm for minimum weight vertex cover that converges in O(log? /(?log log ?)) synchronous rounds.
- A self-stabilizing ?-approximation algorithm for maximum weight independent set that converges in O(?+log^* n) synchronous rounds.
- A self-stabilizing ((2?+1)(1+?))-approximation algorithm for minimum weight dominating set in ?-arboricity graphs that converges in O((log?)/?) synchronous rounds. In all of the above, ? denotes the maximum degree. Our technique improves upon previous results in terms of time complexity while incurring only an additive O(log n) overhead to the message size. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, we provide the first self-stabilizing algorithms for the weighted versions of minimum vertex cover and maximum independent set
Self-stabilizing algorithms for Connected Vertex Cover and Clique decomposition problems
In many wireless networks, there is no fixed physical backbone nor
centralized network management. The nodes of such a network have to
self-organize in order to maintain a virtual backbone used to route messages.
Moreover, any node of the network can be a priori at the origin of a malicious
attack. Thus, in one hand the backbone must be fault-tolerant and in other hand
it can be useful to monitor all network communications to identify an attack as
soon as possible. We are interested in the minimum \emph{Connected Vertex
Cover} problem, a generalization of the classical minimum Vertex Cover problem,
which allows to obtain a connected backbone. Recently, Delbot et
al.~\cite{DelbotLP13} proposed a new centralized algorithm with a constant
approximation ratio of for this problem. In this paper, we propose a
distributed and self-stabilizing version of their algorithm with the same
approximation guarantee. To the best knowledge of the authors, it is the first
distributed and fault-tolerant algorithm for this problem. The approach
followed to solve the considered problem is based on the construction of a
connected minimal clique partition. Therefore, we also design the first
distributed self-stabilizing algorithm for this problem, which is of
independent interest
Design of Optimal Sparse Feedback Gains via the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers
We design sparse and block sparse feedback gains that minimize the variance
amplification (i.e., the norm) of distributed systems. Our approach
consists of two steps. First, we identify sparsity patterns of feedback gains
by incorporating sparsity-promoting penalty functions into the optimal control
problem, where the added terms penalize the number of communication links in
the distributed controller. Second, we optimize feedback gains subject to
structural constraints determined by the identified sparsity patterns. In the
first step, the sparsity structure of feedback gains is identified using the
alternating direction method of multipliers, which is a powerful algorithm
well-suited to large optimization problems. This method alternates between
promoting the sparsity of the controller and optimizing the closed-loop
performance, which allows us to exploit the structure of the corresponding
objective functions. In particular, we take advantage of the separability of
the sparsity-promoting penalty functions to decompose the minimization problem
into sub-problems that can be solved analytically. Several examples are
provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed approach.Comment: To appear in IEEE Trans. Automat. Contro
Simple Distributed Weighted Matchings
Wattenhofer [WW04] derive a complicated distributed algorithm to compute a
weighted matching of an arbitrary weighted graph, that is at most a factor 5
away from the maximum weighted matching of that graph. We show that a variant
of the obvious sequential greedy algorithm [Pre99], that computes a weighted
matching at most a factor 2 away from the maximum, is easily distributed. This
yields the best known distributed approximation algorithm for this problem so
far
Sandpiles and Dominos
We consider the subgroup of the abelian sandpile group of the grid graph
consisting of configurations of sand that are symmetric with respect to central
vertical and horizontal axes. We show that the size of this group is (i) the
number of domino tilings of a corresponding weighted rectangular checkerboard;
(ii) a product of special values of Chebyshev polynomials; and (iii) a
double-product whose factors are sums of squares of values of trigonometric
functions. We provide a new derivation of the formula due to Kasteleyn and to
Temperley and Fisher for counting the number of domino tilings of a 2m x 2n
rectangular checkerboard and a new way of counting the number of domino tilings
of a 2m x 2n checkerboard on a M\"obius strip.Comment: 35 pages, 24 figure
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