Related papers: 3/2-Approximation for the Forest Augmentation Prob…
We consider three variants of the problem of finding a maximum weight restricted $2$-matching in a subcubic graph $G$. (A $2$-matching is any subset of the edges such that each vertex is incident to at most two of its edges.) Depending on…
We give a constant factor approximation algorithm for the Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem on shortest path metrics of directed graphs with two different edge weights. For the case of unit edge weights, the first constant factor…
We devise a generalization of tree approximation that generates conforming meshes, i.e., meshes with a particular structure like edge-to-edge triangulations. A key feature of this generalization is that the choices of the cells to be…
Random Forests (RF) is a popular machine learning method for classification and regression problems. It involves a bagging application to decision tree models. One of the primary advantages of the Random Forests model is the reduction in…
We consider a memory allocation problem that can be modeled as a version of bin packing where items may be split, but each bin may contain at most two (parts of) items. A 3/2-approximation algorithm and an NP-hardness proof for this problem…
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…
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…
The classical NP-hard feedback arc set problem (FASP) and feedback vertex set problem (FVSP) ask for a minimum set of arcs $\varepsilon \subseteq E$ or vertices $\nu \subseteq V$ whose removal $G\setminus \varepsilon$, $G\setminus \nu$…
We introduce a graph partitioning problem motivated by computational topology and propose two algorithms that produce approximate solutions. Specifically, given a weighted, undirected graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, we desire to find…
We study the following two maximization problems related to spanning trees in the Euclidean plane. It is not known whether or not these problems are NP-hard. We present approximation algorithms with better approximation ratios for both…
Finding a minimum spanning tree (MST) for $n$ points in an arbitrary metric space is a fundamental primitive for hierarchical clustering and many other ML tasks, but this takes $\Omega(n^2)$ time to even approximate. We introduce a…
We give the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for Sparsest Cut with general demands in bounded treewidth graphs. In contrast to previous algorithms, which rely on the flow-cut gap and/or metric embeddings, our approach exploits…
We present a general method of designing fast approximation algorithms for cut-based minimization problems in undirected graphs. In particular, we develop a technique that given any such problem that can be approximated quickly on trees,…
We consider the $k$-prize-collecting Steiner tree problem. An instance is composed of an integer $k$ and a graph $G$ with costs on edges and penalties on vertices. The objective is to find a tree spanning at least $k$ vertices which…
Given a connected vertex-weighted graph $G$, the maximum weight internal spanning tree (MaxwIST) problem asks for a spanning tree of $G$ that maximizes the total weight of internal nodes. This problem is NP-hard and APX-hard, with the…
We develop a polynomial time 3/2-approximation algorithm to solve the vertex cover problem on a class of graphs satisfying a property called ``active edge hypothesis''. The algorithm also guarantees an optimal solution on specially…
We consider network design problems in which we are given a graph and seek a min-size $2$-connected subgraph that satisfies a prescribed property. $\bullet$ In the 1-Connectivity Augmentation problem the goal is to augment a connected graph…
Finding the most parsimonious tree inside a phylogenetic network with respect to a given character is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem that for many network topologies is essentially inapproximable. In contrast, if the network…
The Metric Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a classical NP-hard optimization problem. The double-tree shortcutting method for Metric TSP yields an exponentially-sized space of TSP tours, each of which approximates the optimal solution…
We study a weighted generalization of the fractional cut-covering problem, which we relate to the maximum cut problem via antiblocker and gauge duality. This relationship allows us to introduce a semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation…