Related papers: An Improved Approximation for $k$-median, and Posi…
Rounding linear programs using techniques from discrepancy is a recent approach that has been very successful in certain settings. However this method also has some limitations when compared to approaches such as randomized and iterative…
The classical center based clustering problems such as $k$-means/median/center assume that the optimal clusters satisfy the locality property that the points in the same cluster are close to each other. A number of clustering problems arise…
The metric $k$-median problem is a textbook clustering problem. As input, we are given a metric space $V$ of size $n$ and an integer $k$, and our task is to find a subset $S \subseteq V$ of at most $k$ `centers' that minimizes the total…
Clustering plays a crucial role in computer science, facilitating data analysis and problem-solving across numerous fields. By partitioning large datasets into meaningful groups, clustering reveals hidden structures and relationships within…
Submodular optimization has numerous applications such as crowdsourcing and viral marketing. In this paper, we study the fundamental problem of non-negative submodular function maximization subject to a $k$-system constraint, which…
We investigate the fine-grained complexity of approximating the classical $k$-median / $k$-means clustering problems in general metric spaces. We show how to improve the approximation factors to $(1+2/e+\varepsilon)$ and…
Constrained submodular maximization problems encompass a wide variety of applications, including personalized recommendation, team formation, and revenue maximization via viral marketing. The massive instances occurring in modern day…
In the classical NP-hard metric $k$-median problem, we are given a set of $n$ clients and centers with metric distances between them, along with an integer parameter $k\geq 1$. The objective is to select a subset of $k$ open centers that…
Clustering is a long-standing research problem and a fundamental tool in AI and data analysis. The traditional k-center problem, a fundamental theoretical challenge in clustering, has a best possible approximation ratio of 2, and any…
We present a new simple method for rounding a semidefinite programming relaxation of a constraint satisfaction problem. We apply it to the problem of approximate angular synchronization. Specifically, we are given directed distances on a…
Motivated by data analysis and machine learning applications, we consider the popular high-dimensional Euclidean $k$-median and $k$-means problems. We propose a new primal-dual algorithm, inspired by the classic algorithm of Jain and…
We give curvature-dependant convergence rates for the optimization of weakly convex functions defined on a manifold of 1-bounded geometry via Riemannian gradient descent and via the dynamic trivialization algorithm. In order to do this, we…
In metric $k$-clustering, we are given as input a set of $n$ points in a general metric space, and we have to pick $k$ centers and cluster the input points around these chosen centers, so as to minimize an appropriate objective function. In…
For the constrained 2-means problem, we present a $O\left(dn+d({1\over\epsilon})^{O({1\over \epsilon})}\log n\right)$ time algorithm. It generates a collection $U$ of approximate center pairs $(c_1, c_2)$ such that one of pairs in $U$ can…
We introduce a relax-and-round approach embedding the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) with $p\geq 1$ layers. We show for many problems, including Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glasses, that at $p=1$, it is as accurate as…
We give a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for the (not necessarily metric) $k$-Median problem. The algorithm is an $\alpha$-size-approximation algorithm for $\alpha < 1 + 2 \ln(n/k)$. That is, it guarantees a solution having size at…
We study the power of uniform sampling for $k$-Median in various metric spaces. We relate the query complexity for approximating $k$-Median, to a key parameter of the dataset, called the balancedness $\beta \in (0, 1]$ (with $1$ being…
We provide an approximation algorithm for k-means clustering in the one-round (aka non-interactive) local model of differential privacy (DP). This algorithm achieves an approximation ratio arbitrarily close to the best non private…
We consider a generalization of $k$-median and $k$-center, called the {\em ordered $k$-median} problem. In this problem, we are given a metric space $(\mathcal{D},\{c_{ij}\})$ with $n=|\mathcal{D}|$ points, and a non-increasing weight…
We consider the {\em mobile facility location} (\mfl) problem. We are given a set of facilities and clients located in a common metric space. The goal is to move each facility from its initial location to a destination and assign each…