We consider the approximability of the maximum edge-disjoint paths problem
(MEDP) in undirected graphs, and in particular, the integrality gap of the
natural multicommodity flow based relaxation for it. The integrality gap is
known to be Ω(n) even for planar graphs due to a simple
topological obstruction and a major focus, following earlier work, has been
understanding the gap if some constant congestion is allowed.
In this context, it is natural to ask for which classes of graphs does a
constant-factor constant-congestion property hold. It is easy to deduce that
for given constant bounds on the approximation and congestion, the class of
"nice" graphs is nor-closed. Is the converse true? Does every proper
minor-closed family of graphs exhibit a constant factor, constant congestion
bound relative to the LP relaxation? We conjecture that the answer is yes.
One stumbling block has been that such bounds were not known for bounded
treewidth graphs (or even treewidth 3). In this paper we give a polytime
algorithm which takes a fractional routing solution in a graph of bounded
treewidth and is able to integrally route a constant fraction of the LP
solution's value. Note that we do not incur any edge congestion. Previously
this was not known even for series parallel graphs which have treewidth 2. The
algorithm is based on a more general argument that applies to k-sums of
graphs in some graph family, as long as the graph family has a constant factor,
constant congestion bound. We then use this to show that such bounds hold for
the class of k-sums of bounded genus graphs