NP-hardness of the cluster minimization problem revisited
Computational Complexity
2009-11-11 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Chemical Physics
Abstract
The computational complexity of the "cluster minimization problem" is revisited [L. T. Wille and J. Vennik, J. Phys. A 18, L419 (1985)]. It is argued that the original NP-hardness proof does not apply to pairwise potentials of physical interest, such as those that depend on the geometric distance between the particles. A geometric analog of the original problem is formulated, and a new proof for such potentials is provided by polynomial time transformation from the independent set problem for unit disk graphs. Limitations of this formulation are pointed out, and new subproblems that bear more direct consequences to the numerical study of clusters are suggested.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cs/0509016,
title = {NP-hardness of the cluster minimization problem revisited},
author = {A. B. Adib},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cs/0509016},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
8 pages, 2 figures, accepted to J. Phys. A: Math. and Gen