25,482 research outputs found
A polynomial-time algorithm for optimizing over N-fold 4-block decomposable integer programs
In this paper we generalize N-fold integer programs and two-stage integer
programs with N scenarios to N-fold 4-block decomposable integer programs. We
show that for fixed blocks but variable N, these integer programs are
polynomial-time solvable for any linear objective. Moreover, we present a
polynomial-time computable optimality certificate for the case of fixed blocks,
variable N and any convex separable objective function. We conclude with two
sample applications, stochastic integer programs with second-order dominance
constraints and stochastic integer multi-commodity flows, which (for fixed
blocks) can be solved in polynomial time in the number of scenarios and
commodities and in the binary encoding length of the input data. In the proof
of our main theorem we combine several non-trivial constructions from the
theory of Graver bases. We are confident that our approach paves the way for
further extensions
Approximation algorithms for stochastic and risk-averse optimization
We present improved approximation algorithms in stochastic optimization. We
prove that the multi-stage stochastic versions of covering integer programs
(such as set cover and vertex cover) admit essentially the same approximation
algorithms as their standard (non-stochastic) counterparts; this improves upon
work of Swamy \& Shmoys which shows an approximability that depends
multiplicatively on the number of stages. We also present approximation
algorithms for facility location and some of its variants in the -stage
recourse model, improving on previous approximation guarantees. We give a
-approximation algorithm in the standard polynomial-scenario model and
an algorithm with an expected per-scenario -approximation guarantee,
which is applicable to the more general black-box distribution model.Comment: Extension of a SODA'07 paper. To appear in SIAM J. Discrete Mat
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