Better Hardness Results for the Minimum Spanning Tree Congestion Problem

In the spanning tree congestion problem, given a connected graph $G$, the objective is to compute a spanning tree $T$ in $G$ that minimizes its maximum edge congestion, where the congestion of an edge $e$ of $T$ is the number of edges in $G$ for which the unique path in $T$ between their endpoints traverses $e$. The problem is known to be $\mathbb{NP}$-hard, but its approximability is still poorly understood. In the decision version of this problem, denoted $K-\textsf{STC}$, we need to determine if $G$ has a spanning tree with congestion at most $K$. It is known that $K-\textsf{STC}$ is $\mathbb{NP}$-complete for $K\ge 8$. On the other hand, $3-\textsf{STC}$ can be solved in polynomial time, with the complexity status of this problem for $K\in \{4,5,6,7\}$ remaining an open problem. We substantially improve the earlier hardness results by proving that $K-\textsf{STC}$ is $\mathbb{NP}$-complete for $K\ge 5$. This leaves only the case $K=4$ open, and improves the lower bound on the approximation ratio to $1.2$. Motivated by evidence that minimizing congestion is hard even for graphs of small constant radius, we consider $K-\textsf{STC}$ restricted to graphs of radius $2$, and we prove that this variant is $\mathbb{NP}$-complete for all $K\ge 6$. Exploring further in this direction, we also examine the variant, denoted $K-\textsf{STC}D$, where the objective is to determine if the graph has a depth-$D$ spanning three of congestion at most $K$. We prove that $6-\textsf{STC}2$ is $\mathbb{NP}$-complete even for bipartite graphs. For bipartite graphs we establish a tight bound, by also proving that $5-\textsf{STC}2$ is polynomial-time solvable. Additionally, we complement this result with polynomial-time algorithms for two special cases that involve bipartite graphs and restrictions on vertex degrees.