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We develop a new method for proving explicit approximation lower bounds for TSP problems with bounded metrics improving on the best up to now known bounds. They almost match the best known bounds for unbounded metric TSP problems. In…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2012-08-09 Marek Karpinski , Richard Schmied

The Dubins Traveling Salesman Problem (DTSP) has generated significant interest over the last decade due to its occurrence in several civil and military surveillance applications. Currently, there is no algorithm that can find an optimal…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-03-07 Satyanarayana Manyam , Sivakumar Rathinam

We present a new approximation algorithm for the (metric) prize-collecting traveling salesperson problem (PCTSP). In PCTSP, opposed to the classical traveling salesperson problem (TSP), one may not include a vertex of the input graph in the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-04-13 Jannis Blauth , Martin Nägele

In the Euclidean TSP with neighborhoods (TSPN), we are given a collection of $n$ regions (neighborhoods) and we seek a shortest tour that visits each region. In the path variant, we seek a shortest path that visits each region. We present…

Computational Geometry · Computer Science 2012-04-27 Adrian Dumitrescu

We give a 7/9 - Approximation Algorithm for the Maximum Traveling Salesman Problem.

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2015-05-13 Katarzyna Paluch , Marcin Mucha , Aleksander Madry

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is one of the most prominent combinatorial optimization problems. Given a complete graph G = (V, E) and non-negative distances d for every edge, the TSP asks for a shortest tour through all vertices with…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-09-30 Ulrich Pferschy , Rostislav Stanek

The author would like to propose a simple but yet effective method, convex layers, nearest neighbor and triangle inequality, to approach the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). No computer is needed in this method. This method is designed for…

Other Computer Science · Computer Science 2012-04-12 Sing Liew

We study the metric $s$-$t$ path Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). [An, Kleinberg, and Shmoys, STOC 2012] improved on the long standing $\frac{5}{3}$-approximation factor and presented an algorithm that achieves an approximation factor of…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-03-17 Zhihan Gao

One of the most studied extensions of the famous Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) is the {\sc Multiple TSP}: a set of $m\geq 1$ salespersons collectively traverses a set of $n$ cities by $m$ non-trivial tours, to minimize the total…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-07-17 Max Deppert , Matthias Kaul , Matthias Mnich

In Asymmetric A Priori TSP (with independent activation probabilities) we are given an instance of the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem together with an activation probability for each vertex. The task is to compute a tour that…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-10-21 Manuel Christalla , Luise Puhlmann , Vera Traub

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a classic and extensively studied problem with numerous real-world applications in artificial intelligence and operations research. It is well-known that TSP admits a constant approximation ratio on…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-12-02 Jingyang Zhao , Zimo Sheng , Mingyu Xiao

In the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), a list of cities and the distances between them are given. The goal is to find the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the original city. The TSP has a wide…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-06-17 Johnny Seay , Edwin Gonzalez , Stephen Lowe , Jesse Crawford , Bryant Wyatt

The path version of the Traveling Salesman Problem is one of the most well-studied variants of the ubiquitous TSP. Its generalization, the Multi-Path TSP, has recently been used in the best known algorithm for path TSP by Traub and Vygen…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-09-03 Morteza Alimi , Niklas Dahlmeier , Tobias Mömke , Philipp Pabst , Laura Vargas Koch

We present a black-box reduction from the path version of the Traveling Salesman Problem (Path TSP) to the classical tour version (TSP). More precisely, we show that given an $\alpha$-approximation algorithm for TSP, then, for any $\epsilon…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-07-25 Vera Traub , Jens Vygen , Rico Zenklusen

Finding the exact integrality gap $\alpha$ for the LP relaxation of the metric Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) has been an open problem for over thirty years, with little progress made. It is known that $4/3 \leq \alpha \leq 3/2$, and a…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2018-10-31 Sylvia Boyd , András Sebö

We give improved approximations for two metric Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) variants. In Ordered TSP (OTSP) we are given a linear ordering on a subset of nodes $o_1, \ldots, o_k$. The TSP solution must have that $o_{i+1}$ is visited at…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-03-23 Martin Böhm , Zachary Friggstad , Tobias Mömke , Joachim Spoerhase

We describe a hybrid procedure for solving the traveling salesman problem (TSP) to provable optimality. We first sparsify the instance, and then use a hybrid algorithm that combines a branch-and-cut TSP solver with a Hamiltonian cycle…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2017-05-22 Vladimir Ejov , Michael Haythorpe , Serguei Rossomakhine

We investigate semi-streaming algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Specifically, we focus on a variant known as the $(1,2)$-TSP, where the distances between any two vertices are either one or two. Our primary emphasis is on…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-01-30 Sharareh Alipour , Ermiya Farokhnejad , Tobias Mömke

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) is one of the most challenging NP-hard problems. It has widely applications in various disciplines such as physics, biology, computer science and so forth. The best known approximation algorithm for…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-12-13 Wenhong Tian , Chaojie Huang , Xinyang Wang , Qin Xiong

The subtour relaxation of the traveling salesman problem (TSP) plays a central role in approximation algorithms and polyhedral studies of the TSP. A long-standing conjecture asserts that the integrality gap of the subtour relaxation for the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-01 William Cook , Stefan Hougardy , Moritz Petrich