Evolutionary algorithms have been frequently used for dynamic optimization
problems. With this paper, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of
this research area. We present the first computational complexity analysis of
evolutionary algorithms for a dynamic variant of a classical combinatorial
optimization problem, namely makespan scheduling. We study the model of a
strong adversary which is allowed to change one job at regular intervals.
Furthermore, we investigate the setting of random changes. Our results show
that randomized local search and a simple evolutionary algorithm are very
effective in dynamically tracking changes made to the problem instance.Comment: Conference version appears at IJCAI 201
