Related papers: An Improved Lower Bound for the Traveling Salesman…
Let $X_1, X_2, \dots, X_n$ be independent and uniformly distributed random variables in the unit square $[0,1]^2$ and let $L(X_1, \dots, X_n)$ be the length of the shortest traveling salesman path through these points. In 1959, Beardwood,…
Consider $n$ points generated uniformly at random in the unit square, and let $L_n$ be the length of their optimal traveling salesman tour. Beardwood, Halton, and Hammersley (1959) showed $L_n / \sqrt n \to \beta$ almost surely as $n\to…
Let $X$ be an $n$-element point set in the $k$-dimensional unit cube $[0,1]^k$ where $k \geq 2$. According to an old result of Bollob\'as and Meir (1992), there exists a cycle (tour) $x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n$ through the $n$ points, such that…
We show a lower bound for the universal traveling salesman heuristic on the plane: for any linear order on the unit square $[0,1]^2$, there are finite subsets $S \subset [0,1]^2$ of arbitrarily large size such that the path visiting each…
The traveling salesman problem (TSP) consists of finding the length of the shortest closed tour visiting N ``cities''. We consider the Euclidean TSP where the cities are distributed randomly and independently in a d-dimensional unit…
Given $X$ a random vector in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, set $X_1,...,X_N$ to be independent copies of $X$ and let $\Gamma=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}\sum_{i=1}^N <X_i,\cdot>e_i$ be the matrix whose rows are $\frac{X_1}{\sqrt{N}},\dots, \frac{X_N}{\sqrt{N}}$.…
The $k$-Opt heuristic is a simple improvement heuristic for the Traveling Salesman Problem. It starts with an arbitrary tour and then repeatedly replaces $k$ edges of the tour by $k$ other edges, as long as this yields a shorter tour. We…
If we are given $n$ random points in the hypercube $[0,1]^d$, then the minimum length of a Traveling Salesperson Tour through the points, the minimum length of a spanning tree, and the minimum length of a matching, etc., are known to be…
This article proposes the first known algorithm that achieves a constant-factor approximation of the minimum length tour for a Dubins' vehicle through $n$ points on the plane. By Dubins' vehicle, we mean a vehicle constrained to move at…
We present a very simple family of traveling salesman instances with $n$ cities where the nearest neighbor rule may produce a tour that is $\Theta(\log n)$ times longer than an optimum solution. Our family works for the graphic, the…
This paper considers a variation of the full-information secretary problem where the random variables to be observed are independent but not necessary identically distributed. The main result is a sharp lower bound for the optimal win…
Let $\{X_i(t),t\ge0\}, 1\le i\le n$ be independent centered stationary Gaussian processes with unit variance and almost surely continuous sample paths. For given positive constants $u,T$, define the set of conjunctions $C_{[0,T],u}:=\{t\in…
We obtain (up to logarithmic scaling) the power-law lower bound $M_{p}(T_{k})\gtrsim T_{k}^{(1-\delta)p}$ on a subsequence $T_{k}\rightarrow\infty$, uniformly across $p>0$, for discrete one-dimensional quasiperiodic Schr\"odinger operators…
The 2-Opt heuristic is a simple improvement heuristic for the Traveling Salesman Problem. It starts with an arbitrary tour and then repeatedly replaces two edges of the tour by two other edges, as long as this yields a shorter tour. We will…
Let \begin{equation*} S_{0}=0,\quad S_{n}=X_{1}+...+X_{n},\ n\geq 1, \end{equation*} be a random walk whose increments belong without centering to the domain of attraction of a stable law with scaling constants $a_{n}$, that provide…
If one places N cities on a continuum in an unit area, extensive numerical results and their analysis (scaling, etc.) suggest that the best normalized optimal travel distance becomes 0.72 for the Euclidean metric and 0.92 for the Manhattan…
For a random variable $X$ define $Q(X) = \sup_{x \in \mathbb{R}} \mathbb{P}(X=x)$. Let $X_1, \dots, X_n$ be independent integer random variables. Suppose $Q(X_i) \le \alpha_i \in (0,1]$ for each $i \in \{1, \dots, n\}$. Ju\v{s}kevi\v{c}ius…
Extending results of Linial (1984) and Aigner (1985), we prove a uniform lower bound on the balance constant of a poset $P$ of width $2$. This constant is defined as $\delta(P) = \max_{(x, y)\in P^2}\min\{\mathbb{P}(x\prec y),…
Let $(x_n)$ be a positive real sequence decreasing to $0$ such that the series $\sum_n x_n$ is divergent and $\liminf_{n} x_{n+1}/x_n>1/2$. We show that there exists a constant $\theta \in (0,1)$ such that, for each $\ell>0$, there is a…
For a one-dimensional simple random walk, let $g_1(n)$ denote the number of sites visited exactly once at time $n$. Major (1988) proved that \begin{equation*} \limsup_{n\to\infty}\frac{g_1(n)}{\log^2 n}=C\qquad a.s. \end{equation*} where…