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We design a new LP-based algorithm for the graphic $s$-$t$ path Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), which achieves the best approximation factor of 1.5. The algorithm is based on the idea of narrow cuts due to An, Kleinberg, and Shmoys. It…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2013-04-29 Zhihan Gao

We consider the stochastic $k$-TSP problem where rewards at vertices are random and the objective is to minimize the expected length of a tour that collects reward $k$. We present an adaptive $O(\log k)$-approximation algorithm, and a…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-10-05 Alina Ene , Viswanath Nagarajan , Rishi Saket

We show that there is a polynomial-time algorithm with approximation guarantee $\frac{3}{2}+\epsilon$ for the $s$-$t$-path TSP, for any fixed $\epsilon>0$. It is well known that Wolsey's analysis of Christofides' algorithm also works for…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2019-07-24 Vera Traub , Jens Vygen

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

The $k$-Opt and Lin-Kernighan algorithm are two of the most important local search approaches for the Metric TSP. Both start with an arbitrary tour and make local improvements in each step to get a shorter tour. We show that for any fixed…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2024-08-21 Xianghui Zhong

We give a nearly linear time randomized approximation scheme for the Held-Karp bound [Held and Karp, 1970] for metric TSP. Formally, given an undirected edge-weighted graph $G$ on $m$ edges and $\epsilon > 0$, the algorithm outputs in $O(m…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2017-10-16 Chandra Chekuri , Kent Quanrud

We design new algorithms for approximating 2CSPs on graphs with bounded threshold rank, that is, whose normalized adjacency matrix has few eigenvalues larger than $\varepsilon$, smaller than $-\varepsilon$, or both. Unlike on worst-case…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-11-17 Prashanti Anderson , Samuel B. Hopkins , Amit Rajaraman , David Steurer

We present a framework for approximating the metric TSP based on a novel use of matchings. Traditionally, matchings have been used to add edges in order to make a given graph Eulerian, whereas our approach also allows for the removal of…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-03-19 Tobias Mömke , Ola Svensson

We present a simple deterministic single-pass $(2+\epsilon)$-approximation algorithm for the maximum weight matching problem in the semi-streaming model. This improves upon the currently best known approximation ratio of $(4+\epsilon)$. Our…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-11-07 Ami Paz , Gregory Schwartzman

We consider the Demand Strip Packing problem (DSP), in which we are given a set of jobs, each specified by a processing time and a demand. The task is to schedule all jobs such that they are finished before some deadline $D$ while…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-08-19 Franziska Eberle , Felix Hommelsheim , Malin Rau , Stefan Walzer

Prize-Collecting TSP is a variant of the traveling salesperson problem where one may drop vertices from the tour at the cost of vertex-dependent penalties. The quality of a solution is then measured by adding the length of the tour and the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-01-14 Jannis Blauth , Nathan Klein , Martin Nägele

We design a 3/2 approximation algorithm for the Generalized Steiner Tree problem (GST) in metrics with distances 1 and 2. This is the first polynomial time approximation algorithm for a wide class of non-geometric metric GST instances with…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2008-12-12 Piotr Berman , Marek Karpinski , Alex Zelikovsky

We design a $1.49993$-approximation algorithm for the metric traveling salesperson problem (TSP) for instances in which an optimal solution to the subtour linear programming relaxation is half-integral. These instances received significant…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-08-02 Anna Karlin , Nathan Klein , Shayan Oveis Gharan

Building on the blueprint from Goemans and Williamson (1995) for the Max-Cut problem, we construct a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for orthogonally constrained quadratic optimization problems. First, we derive a semidefinite…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-17 Ryan Cory-Wright , Jean Pauphilet

Many randomized approximation algorithms operate by giving a procedure for simulating a random variable $X$ which has mean $\mu$ equal to the target answer, and a relative standard deviation bounded above by a known constant $c$. Examples…

Computation · Statistics 2019-08-16 Mark Huber

Bounds for the optimal tour length for a hypothetical TSP algorithm are derived.

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2007-05-23 A. G. Yaneff

We revisit the constant-factor approximation algorithm for the asymmetric traveling salesman problem by Svensson, Tarnawski, and V\'egh. We improve on each part of this algorithm. We avoid the reduction to irreducible instances and thus…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2021-06-09 Vera Traub , Jens Vygen

Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the unsolved problems in computer science. TSP is NP Hard. Till now the best approximation ratio found for symmetric TSP is three by two by Christofides Algorithm more than forty years ago. There…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-04-27 Alok Chauhan , Madhusudan Verma

The average properties of the well-known Subset Sum Problem can be studied by the means of its randomised version, where we are given a target value $z$, random variables $X_1, \ldots, X_n$, and an error parameter $\varepsilon > 0$, and we…

Noncommutative constraint satisfaction problems (NC-CSPs) are higher-dimensional operator extensions of classical CSPs. Despite their significance in quantum information, their approximability remains largely unexplored. A notable example…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-10-01 Eric Culf , Hamoon Mousavi , Taro Spirig