Related papers: A $1.75$ LP approximation for the Tree Augmentatio…
Prize-Collecting Steiner Tree (PCST) is a generalization of the Steiner Tree problem, a fundamental problem in computer science. In the classic Steiner Tree problem, we aim to connect a set of vertices known as terminals using the…
Many network design problems deal with the design of low-cost networks that are resilient to the failure of their elements, such as nodes or links. One such problem is Connectivity Augmentation, where the goal is to cheaply increase the…
We prove a general result demonstrating the power of Lagrangian relaxation in solving constrained maximization problems with arbitrary objective functions. This yields a unified approach for solving a wide class of {\em subset selection}…
We present improved approximation algorithms for some problems in the related areas of Capacitated Network Design and Flexible Graph Connectivity. In the Cap-$k$-ECSS problem, we are given a graph $G=(V,E)$ whose edges have non-negative…
Makespan minimization in restricted assignment $(R|p_{ij}\in \{p_j, \infty\}|C_{\max})$ is a classical problem in the field of machine scheduling. In a landmark paper in 1990 [8], Lenstra, Shmoys, and Tardos gave a 2-approximation algorithm…
We study the prize-collecting version of the Node-weighted Steiner Tree problem (NWPCST) restricted to planar graphs. We give a new primal-dual Lagrangian-multiplier-preserving (LMP) 3-approximation algorithm for planar NWPCST. We then show…
The graph invariant EPT-sum has cropped up in several unrelated fields in later years: As an objective function for hierarchical clustering, as a more fine-grained version of the classical edge ranking problem, and, specifically when the…
This paper introduces the \emph{$d$-distance matching problem}, in which we are given a bipartite graph $G=(S,T;E)$ with $S=\{s_1,\dots,s_n\}$, a weight function on the edges and an integer $d\in\mathbb Z_+$. The goal is to find a maximum…
A wide array of complex biological, social, and physical systems have recently been shown to be quantitatively described by Ising models, which lie at the intersection of statistical physics and machine learning. Here, we study the…
In this paper, we study the weighted stochastic matching problem. Let $G=(V, E)$ be a given edge-weighted graph and let its realization $\mathcal{G}$ be a random subgraph of $G$ that includes each edge $e\in E$ independently with a known…
We develop a new framework for generalizing approximation algorithms from the structural graph algorithm literature so that they apply to graphs somewhat close to that class (a scenario we expect is common when working with real-world…
Steiner Tree Packing (STP) is a notoriously hard problem in classical complexity theory, which is of practical relevance to VLSI circuit design. Previous research has approached this problem by providing heuristic or approximate algorithms.…
Approximate linear programming (ALP) is an efficient approach to solving large factored Markov decision processes (MDPs). The main idea of the method is to approximate the optimal value function by a set of basis functions and optimize…
In the Multi-Level Aggregation Problem (MLAP), requests arrive at the nodes of an edge-weighted tree T, and have to be served eventually. A service is defined as a subtree X of T that contains its root. This subtree X serves all requests…
For the minimum cardinality vertex cover and maximum cardinality matching problems, the max-product form of belief propagation (BP) is known to perform poorly on general graphs. In this paper, we present an iterative loopy annealing BP…
We introduce the transport-and-pack(TAP) problem, a frequently encountered instance of real-world packing, and develop a neural optimization solution based on reinforcement learning. Given an initial spatial configuration of boxes, we seek…
Until recently, LP relaxations have played a limited role in the design of approximation algorithms for the Steiner tree problem. In 2010, Byrka et al. presented a ln(4)+epsilon approximation based on a hypergraphic LP relaxation, but…
Optimization problems consist of either maximizing or minimizing an objective function. Instead of looking for a maximum solution (resp. minimum solution), one can find a minimum maximal solution (resp. maximum minimal solution). Such…
We develop and analyze methods for computing provably optimal {\em maximum a posteriori} (MAP) configurations for a subclass of Markov random fields defined on graphs with cycles. By decomposing the original distribution into a convex…
We study a maximization problem for geometric network design. Given a set of $n$ compact neighborhoods in $\mathbb{R}^d$, select a point in each neighborhood, so that the longest spanning tree on these points (as vertices) has maximum…