English

Outer approximations of core points for integer programming

Optimization and Control 2025-05-07 v7 Computational Geometry

Abstract

For several decades the dominant techniques for integer linear programming have been branching and cutting planes. Recently, several authors have developed core point methods for solving symmetric integer linear programs (ILPs). An integer point is called a core point if its orbit polytope is lattice-free. It has been shown that for symmetric ILPs, optimizing over the set of core points gives the same answer as considering the entire space. Existing core point techniques rely on the number of core points (or equivalence classes) being finite, which requires special symmetry groups. In this paper we develop some new methods for solving symmetric ILPs (based on outer approximations of core points) that do not depend on finiteness but are more efficient if the group has large disjoint cycles in its set of generators.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.10863,
  title  = {Outer approximations of core points for integer programming},
  author = {Naghmeh Shahverdi and Seyyedmahsa Banihashemi and David Bremner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.10863},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Update discussion of single vs. multiple element essential set. Expand experiments. Add S. Banihashemi as author in recognition of her contributions to the experiments