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We introduce a code-based challenge for automated, open-ended mathematical discovery based on the $k$-server conjecture, a central open problem in competitive analysis. The task is to discover a potential function satisfying a large…
The $k$-server conjecture, first posed by Manasse, McGeoch and Sleator in 1988, states that a $k$-competitive deterministic algorithm for the $k$-server problem exists. It is conjectured that the work function algorithm (WFA) achieves this…
We exhibit an $O((\log k)^6)$-competitive randomized algorithm for the $k$-server problem on any metric space. It is shown that a potential-based algorithm for the fractional $k$-server problem on hierarchically separated trees (HSTs) with…
The time-optimal $k$-server problem minimizes the time spent serving all requests instead of the distances traveled. We give a lower bound of $2k-1$ on the competitive ratio of any deterministic online algorithm for this problem, which…
We give the first polylogarithmic-competitive randomized online algorithm for the $k$-server problem on an arbitrary finite metric space. In particular, our algorithm achieves a competitive ratio of O(log^3 n log^2 k log log n) for any…
The generalized k-server problem is a far-reaching extension of the k-server problem with several applications. Here, each server $s_i$ lies in its own metric space $M_i$. A request is a k-tuple $r = (r_1,r_2,\dotsc,r_k)$ and to serve it,…
The weighted $k$-server is a variant of the $k$-server problem, where the cost of moving a server is the server's weight times the distance through which it moves. The problem is famous for its intriguing properties and for evading standard…
A natural variant of the classical online $k$-server problem is the Weighted $k$-server problem, where the cost of moving a server is its weight times the distance through which it moves. Despite its apparent simplicity, the weighted…
We prove a few new lower bounds on the randomized competitive ratio for the $k$-server problem and other related problems, resolving some long-standing conjectures. In particular, for metrical task systems (MTS) we asympotically settle the…
We study the randomized k-server problem on metric spaces consisting of widely separated subspaces. We give a method which extends existing algorithms to larger spaces with the growth rate of the competitive quotients being at most O(log…
We study a variant of the $k$-server problem, the infinite server problem, in which infinitely many servers reside initially at a particular point of the metric space and serve a sequence of requests. In the framework of competitive…
The weighted $k$-server problem is a natural generalization of the $k$-server problem where each server has a different weight. We consider the problem on uniform metrics, which corresponds to a natural generalization of paging. Our main…
We show how to restrict the analysis of a class of online problems that includes the $k$-server problem in finite metrics such that we only have to consider finite sequences of request. When applying the restrictions, both the optimal…
We study the $k$-server problem in the resource augmentation setting i.e., when the performance of the online algorithm with $k$ servers is compared to the offline optimal solution with $h \leq k$ servers. The problem is very poorly…
The $k$-Server Problem covers plenty of resource allocation scenarios, and several variations have been studied extensively for decades. We present a model generalizing the $k$-Server Problem by preferences of the requests, where the…
We initiate a formal study of fairness for the $k$-server problem, where the objective is not only to minimize the total movement cost, but also to distribute the cost equitably among servers. We first define a general notion of…
We study the problem of metrical service systems with multiple servers (MSSMS), which generalizes two well-known problems -- the $k$-server problem, and metrical service systems. The MSSMS problem is to service requests, each of which is an…
We consider the Work Function Algorithm for the k-server problem. We show that if the Work Function Algorithm is c-competitive, then it is also strictly (2c)-competitive. As a consequence of [Koutsoupias and Papadimitriou, JACM 1995] this…
The weighted $k$-server problem is a natural generalization of the $k$-server problem in which the cost incurred in moving a server is the distance traveled times the weight of the server. Even after almost three decades since the seminal…
In this paper, we study a stochastic variant of the celebrated k-server problem. In the k-server problem, we are required to minimize the total movement of k servers that are serving an online sequence of t requests in a metric. In the…