English

Online Stochastic Matchings: Stability on Hypergraphs

Networking and Internet Architecture 2026-07-21 v1

Abstract

We study stochastic dynamic matching on hypergraphs: items of finitely many classes arrive over time and are removed in multisets by activating hyperedges. We characterize stabilizability, the existence of a matching policy under which the queue process is positive recurrent, in terms of the arrival rates and the incidence matrix alone: (G, λ\lambda) is stabilizable if and only if the conservation equation Aμ\mu = λ\lambda admits a nonnegative solution whose support induces a surjective submatrix, equivalently λ\lambda lies in the interior of the cone generated by the hyperedges. This extends a characterization known for simple graphs (non-bipartiteness together with the independent-set inequalities) to arbitrary hyperedges, allowing multiplicities and mono-edges, and, unlike the constant-regret theory, needs no general-position assumption. Sufficiency is constructive: a single λ\lambda-oblivious policy, Virtual-Queue Match-the-Longest (VQML), a rewardless variant of the Extended Greedy Primal-Dual policy of Nazari and Stolyar, stabilizes every stabilizable instance and is therefore maximally stable.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.18935,
  title  = {Online Stochastic Matchings: Stability on Hypergraphs},
  author = {Fabien Mathieu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.18935},
  year   = {2026}
}