39 pages. An extended abstract of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 47th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP), 2020
Robust optimization is a widely studied area in operations research, where the algorithm takes as input a range of values and outputs a single solution that performs well for the entire range. Specifically, a robust algorithm aims to minimize regret, defined as the maximum difference between the solution's cost and that of an optimal solution in hindsight once the input has been realized. For graph problems in P, such as shortest path and minimum spanning tree, robust polynomial-time algorithms that obtain a constant approximation on regret are known. In this paper, we study robust algorithms for minimizing regret in NP-hard graph optimization problems, and give constant approximations on regret for the classical traveling salesman and Steiner tree problems.
We present a unified polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS) for the prize collecting traveling salesman problem (PCTSP) and the prize collecting Steiner tree problem (PCSTP) in doubling metrics. Given a metric space and a penalty function on a subset of points known as terminals, a solution is a subgraph on points in the metric space, whose cost is the weight of its edges plus the penalty due to terminals not covered by the subgraph. Under our unified framework, the solution subgraph needs to be Eulerian for PCTSP, while it needs to be connected for PCSTP. Before our work, even a QPTAS fo…
We consider the Minimum Steiner Cut problem on undirected planar graphs with non-negative edge weights. This problem involves finding the minimum cut of the graph that separates a specified subset $X$ of vertices (terminals) into two parts. This problem is of theoretical interest because it generalizes two classical optimization problems, Minimum $s$-$t$ Cut and Minimum Cut, and of practical importance because of its application to computing a lower bound for Steiner (Subset) TSP. Our algorithm has running time $O(n\log{n}\log{k})$ where $k$ is the number of terminals.
Given a set $P$ of $n$ points with their pairwise distances, the traveling salesman problem (TSP) asks for a shortest tour that visits each point exactly once. A TSP instance is rectilinear when the points lie in the plane and the distance considered between two points is the $l_1$ distance. In this paper, a fixed-parameter algorithm for the Rectilinear TSP is presented and relies on techniques for solving TSP on bounded-treewidth graphs. It proves that the problem can be solved in $O\left(nh7^h\right)$ where $h \leq n$ denotes the number of horizontal lines containing the points of $P$. The s…
The Steiner tree enumeration problem is a well known problem that asks for enumerating Steiner trees. Numerous theoretical works proposed algorithms for the problem and analyzed their complexity, but there are no practical algorithms and experimental studies. In this paper, we study the Steiner tree enumeration problem practically. We define a problem cost-constrained minimal Steiner tree enumeration problem, which enumerates minimal Steiner trees with costs not larger than a given threshold. To solve the problem, we propose a binary decision diagram (BDD)-based algorithm. The BDD-based algori…
In this note we consider the Steiner tree problem under Bilu-Linial stability. We give strong geometric structural properties that need to be satisfied by stable instances. We then make use of, and strengthen, these geometric properties to show that $1.562$-stable instances of Euclidean Steiner trees are polynomial-time solvable. We also provide a connection between certain approximation algorithms and Bilu-Linial stability for Steiner trees.
The Steiner $k$-eccentricity of a vertex $v$ of a graph $G$ is the maximum Steiner distance over all $k$-subsets of $V (G)$ which contain $v$. In this note, we design a linear algorithm for computing the Steiner $3$-eccentricities and the connective Steiner $3$-eccentricity index on a tree and thus improving a quadratic algorithm presented in [G. Yu, X. Li, \emph{Connective Steiner 3-eccentricity index and network similarity measure}, Appl. Math. Comput. 386 (2020), 125446.]
We study the Steiner tree problem on map graphs, which substantially generalize planar graphs as they allow arbitrarily large cliques. We obtain a PTAS for Steiner tree on map graphs, which builds on the result for planar edge weighted instances of Borradaile et al. The Steiner tree problem on map graphs can be casted as a special case of the planar node-weighted Steiner tree problem, for which only a 2.4-approximation is known. We prove and use a contraction decomposition theorem for planar node weighted instances. This readily reduces the problem of finding a PTAS for planar node-weighted St…
Kimelfeld and Sagiv [Kimelfeld and Sagiv, PODS 2006], [Kimelfeld and Sagiv, Inf. Syst. 2008] pointed out the problem of enumerating $K$-fragments is of great importance in a keyword search on data graphs. In a graph-theoretic term, the problem corresponds to enumerating minimal Steiner trees in (directed) graphs. In this paper, we propose a linear-delay and polynomial-space algorithm for enumerating all minimal Steiner trees, improving on a previous result in [Kimelfeld and Sagiv, Inf. Syst. 2008]. Our enumeration algorithm can be extended to other Steiner problems, such as minimal Steiner for…
We consider a new Steiner tree problem, called vertex-cover-weighted Steiner tree problem. This problem defines the weight of a Steiner tree as the minimum weight of vertex covers in the tree, and seeks a minimum-weight Steiner tree in a given vertex-weighted undirected graph. Since it is included by the Steiner tree activation problem, the problem admits an O(log n)-approximation algorithm in general graphs with n vertices. This approximation factor is tight up to a constant because it is NP-hard to achieve an o(log n)-approximation for the vertex-cover-weighted Steiner tree problem on genera…
We describe a technique to reorganize topologies of Steiner trees by exchanging neighbors of adjacent Steiner points. We explain how to use the systematic way of building trees, and therefore topologies, to find the correct topology after nodes have been exchanged. Topology reorganizations can be inserted into the enumeration scheme commonly used by exact algorithms for the Euclidean Steiner tree problem in $d$-space, providing a method of improvement different than the usual approaches. As an example, we show how topology reorganizations can be used to dynamically change the exploration of th…
In the Directed Steiner Tree (DST) problem the input is a directed edge-weighted graph $G=(V,E)$, a root vertex $r$ and a set $S \subseteq V$ of $k$ terminals. The goal is to find a min-cost subgraph that connects $r$ to each of the terminals. DST admits an $O(\log^2 k/\log \log k)$-approximation in quasi-polynomial time, and an $O(k^ε)$-approximation for any fixed $ε> 0$ in polynomial-time. Resolving the existence of a polynomial-time poly-logarithmic approximation is a major open problem in approximation algorithms. In a recent work, Friggstad and Mousavi [ICALP 2023] obtained a simple and e…
We study two problems that seek a subtree $T$ of a graph $G=(V,E)$ such that $T$ satisfies a certain property and has minimal maximum degree. - In the Min-Degree Group Steiner Tree problem we are given a collection ${\cal S}$ of groups (subsets of $V$) and $T$ should contain a node from every group. - In the Min-Degree Steiner $k$-Tree problem we are given a set $R$ of terminals and an integer $k$, and $T$ should contain at least $k$ terminals. We show that if the former problem admits approximation ratio $ρ$ then the later problem admits approximation ratio $ρ\cdot O(\log k)$. For bounded tre…
We demonstrate that the integrality gap of the natural cut-based LP relaxation for the directed Steiner tree problem is $O(\log k)$ in quasi-bipartite graphs with $k$ terminals. Such instances can be seen to generalize set cover, so the integrality gap analysis is tight up to a constant factor. A novel aspect of our approach is that we use the primal-dual method; a technique that is rarely used in designing approximation algorithms for network design problems in directed graphs.
We give the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for quasi-bipartite instances of Directed Steiner Tree on graphs that exclude fixed minors. In particular, for $K_r$-minor-free graphs our approximation guarantee is $O(r\cdot\sqrt{\log r})$ and, further, for planar graphs our approximation guarantee is 20. Our algorithm uses the primal-dual scheme. We employ a more involved method of determining when to buy an edge while raising dual variables since, as we show, the natural primal-dual scheme fails to raise enough dual value to pay for the purchased solution. As a consequence, we also …
We study the multi-level Steiner tree problem: a generalization of the Steiner tree problem in graphs where terminals $T$ require varying priority, level, or quality of service. In this problem, we seek to find a minimum cost tree containing edges of varying rates such that any two terminals $u$, $v$ with priorities $P(u)$, $P(v)$ are connected using edges of rate $\min\{P(u),P(v)\}$ or better. The case where edge costs are proportional to their rate is approximable to within a constant factor of the optimal solution. For the more general case of non-proportional costs, this problem is hard to…
在经典的（最小代价）Steiner树问题中，我们给出了一个边加权无向图和一组终端节点。目标是计算一个最小成本树S，它跨越所有终端。在本文中，我们考虑的最小功率版本的问题，这是更适合于无线应用。这里，目标是最小化节点的总功耗，其中节点的功率v是S的任何边与v关联的最大成本。直观地说，节点是天线（其中的一部分是我们需要连接的终端），并且边成本定义了经由双向链路连接它们的端点的功率（以便支持具有ack消息的协议）。与最小代价树不同的是，即使在生成树的情况下，即当所有节点都是终端时，最小功率Steiner树也是NP-难的。由于任何树的功率在其成本的一倍和两倍内，因此计算rho \leq ln（4）+eps [Byrka et al.近似最小代价Steiner树为该问题提供了2 rho <2.78的近似。对于最小功率生成树，相同的方法提供了2近似，在[Althaus et al. '06]。本文提出了一种改进的最小权Steiner树的近似算法。我们的结果基于两个主要因素。我们证明了最小功率Steiner树的第一分解定理，在类似的结构结果的精神，最小成本Steiner树和最小功率生成树。基于这个定理，我们定义了一个适当的LP松弛，我们利用在迭代随机舍入框架[Byrka et al. '10]。仔细分析提供了3ln 4-9/4+eps<1.91的近似因子。同样的方法也给出了最小功率生成树的改进的…
Embeddings of graphs into distributions of trees that preserve distances in expectation are a cornerstone of many optimization algorithms. Unfortunately, online or dynamic algorithms which use these embeddings seem inherently randomized and ill-suited against adaptive adversaries. In this paper we provide a new tree embedding which addresses these issues by deterministically embedding a graph into a single tree containing $O(\log n)$ copies of each vertex while preserving the connectivity structure of every subgraph and $O(\log^2 n)$-approximating the cost of every subgraph. Using this embeddi…
The Steiner tree problem is one of the classic and most fundamental $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problems: given an arbitrary weighted graph, seek a minimum-cost tree spanning a given subset of the vertices (terminals). Byrka \emph{et al}. proposed a $1.3863+ε$-approximation algorithm in which the linear program is solved at every iteration after contracting a component. Goemans \emph{et al}. shown that it is possible to achieve the same approximation guarantee while only solving hypergraphic LP relaxation once. However, optimizing hypergraphic LP relaxation exactly is strongly NP-hard. This article pr…
We study the prize-collecting version of the Node-weighted Steiner Tree problem (NWPCST) restricted to planar graphs. We give a new primal-dual Lagrangian-multiplier-preserving (LMP) 3-approximation algorithm for planar NWPCST. We then show a ($2.88 + ε$)-approximation which establishes a new best approximation guarantee for planar NWPCST. This is done by combining our LMP algorithm with a threshold rounding technique and utilizing the 2.4-approximation of Berman and Yaroslavtsev for the version without penalties. We also give a primal-dual 4-approximation algorithm for the more general forest…
{\em Reoptimization} is a setting in which we are given an (near) optimal solution of a problem instance and a local modification that slightly changes the instance. The main goal is that of finding an (near) optimal solution of the modified instance. We investigate one of the most studied scenarios in reoptimization known as {\em Steiner tree reoptimization}. Steiner tree reoptimization is a collection of strongly NP-hard optimization problems that are defined on top of the classical Steiner tree problem and for which several constant-factor approximation algorithms have been designed in the …
We consider the problem of computing a Steiner tree of minimum cost under a hop constraint which requires the depth of the tree to be at most $k$. Our main result is an exact algorithm for metrics induced by graphs with bounded treewidth that runs in time $n^{O(k)}$. For the special case of a path, we give a simple algorithm that solves the problem in polynomial time, even if $k$ is part of the input. The main result can be used to obtain, in quasi-polynomial time, a near-optimal solution that violates the $k$-hop constraint by at most one hop for more general metrics induced by graphs of boun…
The $k$-Steiner-2NCS problem is as follows: Given a constant $k$, and an undirected connected graph $G = (V,E)$, non-negative costs $c$ on $E$, and a partition $(T, V-T)$ of $V$ into a set of terminals, $T$, and a set of non-terminals (or, Steiner nodes), where $|T|=k$, find a minimum-cost two-node connected subgraph that contains the terminals. We present a randomized polynomial-time algorithm for the unweighted problem, and a randomized PTAS for the weighted problem. We obtain similar results for the $k$-Steiner-2ECS problem, where the input is the same, and the algorithmic goal is to find a…
In this paper we study the Steiner tree problem over a dynamic set of terminals. We consider the model where we are given an $n$-vertex graph $G=(V,E,w)$ with positive real edge weights, and our goal is to maintain a tree which is a good approximation of the minimum Steiner tree spanning a terminal set $S \subseteq V$, which changes over time. The changes applied to the terminal set are either terminal additions (incremental scenario), terminal removals (decremental scenario), or both (fully dynamic scenario). Our task here is twofold. We want to support updates in sublinear $o(n)$ time, and k…
On Strong Graph Partitions and Universal Steiner Trees
研究了无向图的泛Steiner树的构造问题。给定图$G$和根节点$r$，我们寻找最小{ \em stretch}的单个生成树$T$，其中$T$的stretch被定义为在所有终端集$X$上，连接$X$到$r$的$T$的最小子树$T_X$的成本与连接$X$到$r$的最优Steiner树在$G$中的成本的最大比率。通用Steiner树（UST）对于数据聚合问题是重要的，其中对于终端的每个输入实例从头开始计算Steiner树是昂贵的，例如在低能量传感器网络应用中。本文给出了一般图的多项式时间\ust构造方法，该方法构造了具有$2^{O(\sqrt{\log n})}$ -拉伸的图.我们还给出了一个多项式时间的$\polylog(n)$ -拉伸图的构造。我们的算法的一个基本组成部分是一个层次的图形分区，其中每个保证小强直径为每个集群和有界邻域交叉点为每个节点。我们表现出密切的联系之间的问题，构建USTS和建设这样的图分区。我们的一般图的分区层次结构的建设是基于一个迭代的集群合并过程，而一个未成年人的自由图是基于分离器定理，这样的图和解决方案的集群聚合问题，可能是独立的利益，即使是一般的图形。据我们所知，这是第一个一般图的子多项式拉伸（$o(n^ε)$ for any $ε> 0$）UST构造，也是第一个无子图的多项式拉伸UST构造。
The Hop-Constrained Steiner Tree problem (HCST) is challenging NP-hard problem arising in the design of centralized telecommunication networks where the reliability constraints matter. In this paper three iterative greedy algorithms are described to find efficient optimized solution to solve HCST on both sparse and dense graphs. In the third algorithm, we adopt the idea of Kruskal algorithm for the HCST problem to reach a better solution. This is the first time such algorithm is utilized in a problem with hop-constrained condition. Computational results on a number of problem instances are der…
Given a graph $G = (V,E)$ and a subset $T \subseteq V$ of terminals, a \emph{Steiner tree} of $G$ is a tree that spans $T$. In the vertex-weighted Steiner tree (VST) problem, each vertex is assigned a non-negative weight, and the goal is to compute a minimum weight Steiner tree of $G$. We study a natural generalization of the VST problem motivated by multi-level graph construction, the \emph{vertex-weighted grade-of-service Steiner tree problem} (V-GSST), which can be stated as follows: given a graph $G$ and terminals $T$, where each terminal $v \in T$ requires a facility of a minimum grade of…
We study the Travelling Salesperson (TSP) and the Steiner Tree problem (STP) in graphs of low highway dimension. This graph parameter was introduced by Abraham et al. [SODA 2010] as a model for transportation networks, on which TSP and STP naturally occur for various applications in logistics. It was previously shown [Feldmann et al. ICALP 2015] that these problems admit a quasi-polynomial time approximation scheme (QPTAS) on graphs of constant highway dimension. We demonstrate that a significant improvement is possible in the special case when the highway dimension is 1, for which we present …
In the Steiner Tree Augmentation Problem (STAP), we are given a graph $G = (V,E)$, a set of terminals $R \subseteq V$, and a Steiner tree $T$ spanning $R$. The edges $L := E \setminus E(T)$ are called links and have non-negative costs. The goal is to augment $T$ by adding a minimum cost set of links, so that there are 2 edge-disjoint paths between each pair of vertices in $R$. This problem is a special case of the Survivable Network Design Problem, which can be approximated to within a factor of 2 using iterative rounding~\cite{J2001}. We give the first polynomial time algorithm for STAP with …
We consider the problem of constructing optimal decision trees: given a collection of tests which can disambiguate between a set of $m$ possible diseases, each test having a cost, and the a-priori likelihood of the patient having any particular disease, what is a good adaptive strategy to perform these tests to minimize the expected cost to identify the disease? We settle the approximability of this problem by giving a tight $O(\log m)$-approximation algorithm. We also consider a more substantial generalization, the Adaptive TSP problem. Given an underlying metric space, a random subset $S$ of…
The Planar Steiner Tree problem is one of the most fundamental NP-complete problems as it models many network design problems. Recall that an instance of this problem consists of a graph with edge weights, and a subset of vertices (often called terminals); the goal is to find a subtree of the graph of minimum total weight that connects all terminals. A seminal paper by Erickson et al. [Math. Oper. Res., 1987] considers instances where the underlying graph is planar and all terminals can be covered by the boundary of $k$ faces. Erickson et al. show that the problem can be solved by an algorithm…
We introduce a new Steiner-type problem for directed graphs named \textsc{$q$-Root Steiner Tree}. Here one is given a directed graph $G=(V,A)$ and two subsets of its vertices, $R$ of size $q$ and $T$, and the task is to find a minimum size subgraph of $G$ that contains a path from each vertex of $R$ to each vertex of $T$. The special case of this problem with $q=1$ is the well known \textsc{Directed Steiner Tree} problem, while the special case with $T=R$ is the \textsc{Strongly Connected Steiner Subgraph} problem. We first show that the problem is W[1]-hard with respect to $|T|$ for any $q \g…
