52,925 research outputs found
The matching relaxation for a class of generalized set partitioning problems
This paper introduces a discrete relaxation for the class of combinatorial
optimization problems which can be described by a set partitioning formulation
under packing constraints. We present two combinatorial relaxations based on
computing maximum weighted matchings in suitable graphs. Besides providing dual
bounds, the relaxations are also used on a variable reduction technique and a
matheuristic. We show how that general method can be tailored to sample
applications, and also perform a successful computational evaluation with
benchmark instances of a problem in maritime logistics.Comment: 33 pages. A preliminary (4-page) version of this paper was presented
at CTW 2016 (Cologne-Twente Workshop on Graphs and Combinatorial
Optimization), with proceedings on Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematic
Optimal Sparsification for Some Binary CSPs Using Low-degree Polynomials
This paper analyzes to what extent it is possible to efficiently reduce the
number of clauses in NP-hard satisfiability problems, without changing the
answer. Upper and lower bounds are established using the concept of
kernelization. Existing results show that if NP is not contained in coNP/poly,
no efficient preprocessing algorithm can reduce n-variable instances of CNF-SAT
with d literals per clause, to equivalent instances with bits for
any e > 0. For the Not-All-Equal SAT problem, a compression to size
exists. We put these results in a common framework by analyzing
the compressibility of binary CSPs. We characterize constraint types based on
the minimum degree of multivariate polynomials whose roots correspond to the
satisfying assignments, obtaining (nearly) matching upper and lower bounds in
several settings. Our lower bounds show that not just the number of
constraints, but also the encoding size of individual constraints plays an
important role. For example, for Exact Satisfiability with unbounded clause
length it is possible to efficiently reduce the number of constraints to n+1,
yet no polynomial-time algorithm can reduce to an equivalent instance with
bits for any e > 0, unless NP is a subset of coNP/poly.Comment: Updated the cross-composition in lemma 18 (minor update), since the
previous version did NOT satisfy requirement 4 of lemma 18 (the proof of
Claim 20 was incorrect
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