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Density Functions subject to a Co-Matroid Constraint

Abstract

In this paper we consider the problem of finding the {\em densest} subset subject to {\em co-matroid constraints}. We are given a {\em monotone supermodular} set function ff defined over a universe UU, and the density of a subset SS is defined to be f(S)/\crd{S}. This generalizes the concept of graph density. Co-matroid constraints are the following: given matroid \calM a set SS is feasible, iff the complement of SS is {\em independent} in the matroid. Under such constraints, the problem becomes \np-hard. The specific case of graph density has been considered in literature under specific co-matroid constraints, for example, the cardinality matroid and the partition matroid. We show a 2-approximation for finding the densest subset subject to co-matroid constraints. Thus, for instance, we improve the approximation guarantees for the result for partition matroids in the literature

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