Related papers: Analysis of a Gray-Box Operator for Vertex Cover
In the dynamic approximate maximum bipartite matching problem we are given bipartite graph $G$ undergoing updates and our goal is to maintain a matching of $G$ which is large compared the maximum matching size $\mu(G)$. We define a dynamic…
Some experimental investigations have shown that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are efficient for the minimum label spanning tree (MLST) problem. However, we know little about that in theory. As one step towards this issue, we theoretically…
Combinatorial optimization is a well-established area in operations research and computer science. Until recently, its methods have focused on solving problem instances in isolation, ignoring that they often stem from related data…
The graph coloring problem (GCP) is one of the most studied NP-HARD problems in computer science. Given a graph , the task is to assign a color to all vertices such that no vertices sharing an edge receive the same color and that the number…
The optimization of expensive-to-evaluate black-box functions over combinatorial structures is an ubiquitous task in machine learning, engineering and the natural sciences. The combinatorial explosion of the search space and costly…
The quantum approximate optimisation ansatz (QAOA) is one of the flagship algorithms used to tackle combinatorial optimisation on graphs problems using a quantum computer, and is considered a strong candidate for early fault-tolerant…
Predicting the cheapest sample size for the optimal stratification in multivariate survey design is a problem in cases where the population frame is large. A solution exists that iteratively searches for the minimum sample size necessary to…
In this paper we revisit the question how hard it can be for the $(1+1)$ Evolutionary Algorithm to optimize monotone pseudo-Boolean functions. By introducing a more pessimistic stochastic process, the partially-ordered evolutionary…
We develop an algorithmic theory of convex optimization over discrete sets. Using a combination of algebraic and geometric tools we are able to provide polynomial time algorithms for solving broad classes of convex combinatorial…
The covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) is an efficient continuous black-box optimization method. The CMA-ES possesses many attractive features, including invariance properties and a well-tuned default hyperparameter…
Population diversity is essential for avoiding premature convergence in Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and for the effective use of crossover. Yet the dynamics of how diversity emerges in populations are not well understood. We use rigorous…
The design of good heuristics or approximation algorithms for NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems often requires significant specialized knowledge and trial-and-error. Can we automate this challenging, tedious process, and learn the…
We introduce an order-invariant reinforcement learning framework for black-box combinatorial optimization. Classical estimation-of-distribution algorithms (EDAs) often rely on learning explicit variable dependency graphs, which can be…
We study the vertex-cover problem which is an NP-hard optimization problem and a prototypical model exhibiting phase transitions on random graphs, e.g., Erdoes-Renyi (ER) random graphs. These phase transitions coincide with changes of the…
It has been observed that many complex real-world networks have certain properties, such as a high clustering coefficient, a low diameter, and a power-law degree distribution. A network with a power-law degree distribution is known as…
The $(1+(\lambda,\lambda))$ genetic algorithm, first proposed at GECCO 2013, showed a surprisingly good performance on so me optimization problems. The theoretical analysis so far was restricted to the OneMax test function, where this GA…
The Makespan Scheduling problem is an extensively studied NP-hard problem, and its simplest version looks for an allocation approach for a set of jobs with deterministic processing times to two identical machines such that the makespan is…
The decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA/D) does not directly optimize a given multi-objective function $f$, but instead optimizes $N + 1$ single-objective subproblems of $f$ in a co-evolutionary manner. It…
While many optimization problems work with a fixed number of decision variables and thus a fixed-length representation of possible solutions, genetic programming (GP) works on variable-length representations. A naturally occurring problem…
The most common representation in evolutionary computation are bit strings. This is ideal to model binary decision variables, but less useful for variables taking more values. With very little theoretical work existing on how to use…