在半流模型中，算法必须通过对图的边流进行一次或少量遍历，处理任意n顶点图，使用O(n·polylog n)字的空间，并在最后一次遍历结束时输出对应问题的解。在无向图上近似（单源）最短路径是该模型中一个长期存在的开放问题。在这项工作中，我们从上界和下界两个方面推进了该问题的研究：\n我们提出了一种简单的随机算法，对于任意ε>0，该算法能以高概率计算给定源顶点的(1+ε)-近似最短路径，空间复杂度为O(1/ε · n log³ n)，遍历次数为O(1/ε · (log n / log log n)²)。该算法还可以去随机化，并适用于动态流，仅需在空间上增加额外的poly(log n, 1/ε)因子开销。此前，该问题已知的最优算法需要1/ε·log^c(n)次遍历，其中c是一个未明确的大常数。\n我们证明，任何能以大常数概率输出给定源顶点（甚至仅到单个固定目标顶点，且只需输出距离而非路径）的任意常数近似最短路径的半流算法，都需要Ω(log n / log log n)次遍历。我们强调，我们的下界适用于任意常数因子的最短路径近似。此前，仅已知常数遍历次数的下界，且仅适用于小于2的小近似比。\n我们的研究结果共同将半流模型中单源最短路径近似的遍历复杂度差距从polylog n对比ω(1)缩小到仅二次差距。
英文摘要：
In the semi-streaming model, an algorithm must process any $n$-vertex graph by making one or few passes over a stream of its edges, use $O(n \cdot \text{polylog }n)$ words of space, and at the end of the last pass, output a solution to the problem at hand. Approximating (single-source) shortest paths on undirected graphs is a longstanding open question in this model. In this work, we make progress on this question from both upper and lower bound fronts:
We present a simple randomized algorithm that for any $ε> 0$, with high probability computes $(1+ε)$-approximate shortest paths from a given source vertex in \[
O\left(\frac{1}ε \cdot n \log^3 n \right)~\text{space} \quad \text{and} \quad O\left(\frac{1}ε \cdot \left(\frac{\log n}{\log\log n} \right) ^2\right) ~\text{passes}.
\] The algorithm can also be derandomized and made to work on dynamic streams at a cost of some extra $\text{poly}(\log n, 1/ε)$ factors only in the space. Previously, the best known algorithms for this problem required $1/ε\cdot \log^{c}(n)$ passes, for an unspecified large constant $c$.
We prove that any semi-streaming algorithm that with large constant probability outputs any constant approximation to shortest paths from a given source vertex (even to a single fixed target vertex and only the distance, not necessarily the path) requires \[ Ω\left(\frac{\log n}{\log\log n}\right) ~\text{passes}. \] We emphasize that our lower bound holds for any constant-factor approximation of shortest paths. Previously, only constant-pass lower bounds were known and only for small approximation ratios below two.
Our results collectively reduce the gap in the pass complexity of approximating single-source shortest paths in the semi-streaming model from $\text{polylog } n$ vs $ω(1)$ to only a quadratic gap.
We present a method for solving the transshipment problem - also known as uncapacitated minimum cost flow - up to a multiplicative error of $1 + \varepsilon$ in undirected graphs with non-negative edge weights using a tailored gradient descent algorithm. Using $\tilde{O}(\cdot)$ to hide polylogarithmic factors in $n$ (the number of nodes in the graph), our gradient descent algorithm takes $\tilde O(\varepsilon^{-2})$ iterations, and in each iteration it solves an instance of the transshipment problem up to a multiplicative error of $\operatorname{polylog} n$. In particular, this allows us to p…
A $(β,ε)$-hopset for a weighted undirected $n$-vertex graph $G=(V,E)$ is a set of edges, whose addition to the graph guarantees that every pair of vertices has a path between them that contains at most $β$ edges, whose length is within $1+ε$ of the shortest path. In her seminal paper, Cohen \cite[JACM 2000]{C00} introduced the notion of hopsets in the context of parallel computation of approximate shortest paths, and since then it has found numerous applications in various other settings, such as dynamic graph algorithms, distributed computing, and the streaming model. Cohen \cite{C00} devised…
Computing approximate shortest paths in the dynamic streaming setting is a fundamental challenge that has been intensively studied during the last decade. Currently existing solutions for this problem either build a sparse multiplicative spanner of the input graph and compute shortest paths in the spanner offline, or compute an exact single source BFS tree. Solutions of the first type are doomed to incur a stretch-space tradeoff of $2κ-1$ versus $n^{1+1/κ}$, for an integer parameter $κ$. (In fact, existing solutions also incur an extra factor of $1+ε$ in the stretch for weighted graphs, and an…
We prove a lower bound on the space complexity of two-pass semi-streaming algorithms that approximate the maximum matching problem. The lower bound is parameterized by the density of Ruzsa-Szemeredi graphs: * Any two-pass semi-streaming algorithm for maximum matching has approximation ratio at least $(1- Ω(\frac{\log{RS(n)}}{\log{n}}))$, where $RS(n)$ denotes the maximum number of induced matchings of size $Θ(n)$ in any $n$-vertex graph, i.e., the largest density of a Ruzsa-Szemeredi graph. Currently, it is known that $n^{Ω(1/\!\log\log{n})} \leq RS(n) \leq \frac{n}{2^{O(\log^*{\!(n)})}}$ and …
We provide $\widetilde{O}(ε^{-1})$-pass semi-streaming algorithms for computing $(1-ε)$-approximate maximum cardinality matchings in bipartite graphs. Our most efficient methods are deterministic and use optimal, $O(n)$, space, improving upon the space complexity of the previous state-of-the-art $\widetilde{O}(ε^{-1})$-pass algorithm of Ahn and Guha. To obtain our results we provide semi-streaming adaptations of more general continuous optimization tools. Further, we leverage these techniques to obtain improvements for streaming variants of approximate linear programming, optimal transport, ex…
We present a simple deterministic single-pass $(2+ε)$-approximation algorithm for the maximum weight matching problem in the semi-streaming model. This improves upon the currently best known approximation ratio of $(4+ε)$. Our algorithm uses $O(n\log^2 n)$ bits of space for constant values of $ε$. It relies on a variation of the local-ratio theorem, which may be of use for other algorithms in the semi-streaming model as well.
In this paper we consider the problem of finding a maximum weight set subject to a $k$-extendible constraint in the data stream model. The only non-trivial algorithm known for this problem to date---to the best of our knowledge---is a semi-streaming $k^2(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm (Crouch and Stubbs, 2014), but semi-streaming $O(k)$-approximation algorithms are known for many restricted cases of this general problem. In this paper, we close most of this gap by presenting a semi-streaming $O(k \log k)$-approximation algorithm for the general problem, which is almost the best poss…
In this paper, we study linear programming based approaches to the maximum matching problem in the semi-streaming model. The semi-streaming model has gained attention as a model for processing massive graphs as the importance of such graphs has increased. This is a model where edges are streamed-in in an adversarial order and we are allowed a space proportional to the number of vertices in a graph. In recent years, there has been several new results in this semi-streaming model. However broad techniques such as linear programming have not been adapted to this model. We present several techniqu…
Set cover, over a universe of size $n$, may be modelled as a data-streaming problem, where the $m$ sets that comprise the instance are to be read one by one. A semi-streaming algorithm is allowed only $O(n\, \mathrm{poly}\{\log n, \log m\})$ space to process this stream. For each $p \ge 1$, we give a very simple deterministic algorithm that makes $p$ passes over the input stream and returns an appropriately certified $(p+1)n^{1/(p+1)}$-approximation to the optimum set cover. More importantly, we proceed to show that this approximation factor is essentially tight, by showing that a factor bette…
Considerable effort has been devoted to the development of streaming algorithms for analyzing massive graphs. Unfortunately, many results have been negative, establishing that a wide variety of problems require $Ω(n^2)$ space to solve. One of the few bright spots has been the development of semi-streaming algorithms for a handful of graph problems -- these algorithms use space $O(n\cdot\text{polylog}(n))$. In the annotated data streaming model of Chakrabarti et al., a computationally limited client wants to compute some property of a massive input, but lacks the resources to store even a small…
We reduce the best known approximation ratio for finding a weighted matching of a graph using a one-pass semi-streaming algorithm from 5.828 to 5.585. The semi-streaming model forbids random access to the input and restricts the memory to O(n*polylog(n)) bits. It was introduced by Muthukrishnan in 2003 and is appropriate when dealing with massive graphs.
In the semi-streaming model, an algorithm receives a stream of edges of a graph in arbitrary order and uses a memory of size $O(n \mbox{ polylog } n)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices of a graph. In this work, we present semi-streaming algorithms that perform one or two passes over the input stream for maximum matching with no restrictions on the input graph, and for the important special case of bipartite graphs that we refer to as maximum bipartite matching (MBM). The Greedy matching algorithm performs one pass over the input and outputs a $1/2$ approximation. Whether there is a better o…
In this paper we consider shortest path problems in a directed graph where the transitions between nodes are subject to uncertainty. We use a minimax formulation, where the objective is to guarantee that a special destination state is reached with a minimum cost path under the worst possible instance of the uncertainty. Problems of this type arise, among others, in planning and pursuit-evasion contexts, and in model predictive control. Our analysis makes use of the recently developed theory of abstract semicontractive dynamic programming models. We investigate questions of existence and unique…
In a recent breakthrough, Paz and Schwartzman (SODA'17) presented a single-pass ($2+ε$)-approximation algorithm for the maximum weight matching problem in the semi-streaming model. Their algorithm uses $O(n\log^2 n)$ bits of space, for any constant $ε>0$. We present two simplified and more intuitive analyses, for essentially the same algorithm, which also improve the space complexity to the optimal bound of $O(n\log n)$ bits --- this is optimal as the output matching requires $Ω(n\log n)$ bits. Our analyses rely on a simple use of the primal-dual method and a simple accounting method.
In this paper we consider the problem of maximizing a non-negative submodular function subject to a cardinality constraint in the data stream model. Previously, the best known algorithm for this problem was a $5.828$-approximation semi-streaming algorithm based on a local search technique (Feldman et al., 2018). For the special case of this problem in which the objective function is also monotone, the state-of-the-art semi-streaming algorithm is an algorithm known as Sieve-Streaming, which is based on a different technique (Badanidiyuru, 2014). Adapting the technique of Sieve-Streaming to non-…
We present the first semi-streaming algorithms to determine k-connectivity of an undirected graph with k being any constant. The semi-streaming model for graph algorithms was introduced by Muthukrishnan in 2003 and turns out to be useful when dealing with massive graphs streamed in from an external storage device. Our two semi-streaming algorithms each compute a sparse subgraph of an input graph G and can use this subgraph in a postprocessing step to decide k-connectivity of G. To this end the first algorithm reads the input stream only once and uses time O(k^2*n) to process each input edge. T…
In this paper, we study the non-bipartite maximum matching problem in the semi-streaming model. The maximum matching problem in the semi-streaming model has received a significant amount of attention lately. While the problem has been somewhat well solved for bipartite graphs, the known algorithms for non-bipartite graphs use $2^{\frac1ε}$ passes or $n^{\frac1ε}$ time to compute a $(1-ε)$ approximation. In this paper we provide the first FPTAS (polynomial in $n,\frac1ε$) for the problem which is efficient in both the running time and the number of passes. We also show that we can estimate the …
We present semi-streaming algorithms for basic graph problems that have optimal per-edge processing times and therefore surpass all previous semi-streaming algorithms for these tasks. The semi-streaming model, which is appropriate when dealing with massive graphs, forbids random access to the input and restricts the memory to O(n*polylog n) bits. Particularly, the formerly best per-edge processing times for finding the connected components and a bipartition are O(alpha(n)), for determining k-vertex and k-edge connectivity O(k^2n) and O(n*log n) respectively for any constant k and for computing…
We study the maximum weight matching problem in the semi-streaming model, and improve on the currently best one-pass algorithm due to Zelke (Proc. of STACS2008, pages 669-680) by devising a deterministic approach whose performance guarantee is 4.91+epsilon. In addition, we study preemptive online algorithms, a sub-class of one-pass algorithms where we are only allowed to maintain a feasible matching in memory at any point in time. All known results prior to Zelke's belong to this sub-class. We provide a lower bound of 4.967 on the competitive ratio of any such deterministic algorithm, and henc…
In this paper, we study the problem of finding a maximum matching in the semi-streaming model when edges arrive in a random order. In the semi-streaming model, an algorithm receives a stream of edges and it is allowed to have a memory of $\tilde{O}(n)$ where $n$ is the number of vertices in the graph. A recent inspiring work by Assadi et al. shows that there exists a streaming algorithm with the approximation ratio of $\frac{2}{3}$ that uses $\tilde{O}(n^{1.5})$ memory. However, the memory of their algorithm is much larger than the memory constraint of the semi-streaming algorithms. In this wo…
We present the first semi-streaming PTAS for the minimum feedback arc set problem on directed tournaments in a small number of passes. Namely, we obtain a $(1 + \varepsilon)$-approximation in polynomial time $O \left( \text{poly}(n) 2^{\text{poly}(1/\varepsilon)} \right)$, with $p$ passes in $n^{1+1/p} \cdot \text{poly}\left(\frac{\log n}{\varepsilon}\right)$ space. The only previous algorithm with this pass/space trade-off gave a $3$-approximation (SODA, 2020), and other polynomial-time algorithms which achieved a $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation did so with quadratic memory or with a linear n…
We study the communication complexity and streaming complexity of approximating unweighted semi-matchings. A semi-matching in a bipartite graph G = (A, B, E), with n = |A|, is a subset of edges S that matches all A vertices to B vertices with the goal usually being to do this as fairly as possible. While the term 'semi-matching' was coined in 2003 by Harvey et al. [WADS 2003], the problem had already previously been studied in the scheduling literature under different names. We present a deterministic one-pass streaming algorithm that for any 0 <= ε<= 1 uses space O(n^{1+ε}) and computes an O(…
We consider the problem of maximizing a non-negative submodular function under the $b$-matching constraint, in the semi-streaming model. When the function is linear, monotone, and non-monotone, we obtain the approximation ratios of $2+\varepsilon$, $3 + 2 \sqrt{2} \approx 5.828$, and $4 + 2 \sqrt{3} \approx 7.464$, respectively. We also consider a generalized problem, where a $k$-uniform hypergraph is given, along with an extra matroid or a $k'$-matchoid constraint imposed on the edges, with the same goal of finding a $b$-matching that maximizes a submodular function. When the extra constraint…
Recent breakthroughs in graph streaming have led to the design of single-pass semi-streaming algorithms for various graph coloring problems such as $(Δ+1)$-coloring, degeneracy-coloring, coloring triangle-free graphs, and others. These algorithms are all randomized in crucial ways and whether or not there is any deterministic analogue of them has remained an important open question in this line of work. We settle this fundamental question by proving that there is no deterministic single-pass semi-streaming algorithm that given a graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ$, can output a proper coloring o…
Analyzing massive data sets has been one of the key motivations for studying streaming algorithms. In recent years, there has been significant progress in analysing distributions in a streaming setting, but the progress on graph problems has been limited. A main reason for this has been the existence of linear space lower bounds for even simple problems such as determining the connectedness of a graph. However, in many new scenarios that arise from social and other interaction networks, the number of vertices is significantly less than the number of edges. This has led to the formulation of th…
While the basic greedy algorithm gives a semi-streaming algorithm with an approximation guarantee of $2$ for the \emph{unweighted} matching problem, it was only recently that Paz and Schwartzman obtained an analogous result for weighted instances. Their approach is based on the versatile local ratio technique and also applies to generalizations such as weighted hypergraph matchings. However, the framework for the analysis fails for the related problem of weighted matroid intersection and as a result the approximation guarantee for weighted instances did not match the factor $2$ achieved by the…
Given a directed graph $G$ with arbitrary real-valued weights, the single source shortest-path problem (SSSP) asks for, given a source $s$ in $G$, finding a shortest path from $s$ to each vertex $v$ in $G$. A classical SSSP algorithm detects a negative cycle of $G$ or constructs a shortest-path tree (SPT) rooted at $s$ in $O(mn)$ time, where $m,n$ are the numbers of edges and vertices in $G$ respectively. In many practical applications, new constraints come from time to time and we need to update the SPT frequently. Given an SPT $T$ of $G$, suppose the weight on a certain edge is modified. We …
The distributed single-source shortest paths problem is one of the most fundamental and central problems in the message-passing distributed computing. Classical Bellman-Ford algorithm solves it in $O(n)$ time, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the input graph $G$. Peleg and Rubinovich (FOCS'99) showed a lower bound of $\tildeΩ(D + \sqrt{n})$ for this problem, where $D$ is the hop-diameter of $G$. Whether or not this problem can be solved in $o(n)$ time when $D$ is relatively small is a major notorious open question. Despite intensive research \cite{LP13,N14,HKN15,EN16,BKKL16} that yielded…
Depth first search (DFS) tree is a fundamental data structure for solving various graph problems. The classical DFS algorithm requires $O(m+n)$ time for a graph having $n$ vertices and $m$ edges. In the streaming model, an algorithm is allowed several passes (preferably single) over the input graph having a restriction on the size of local space used. Trivially, a DFS tree can be computed using a single pass using $O(m)$ space. In the semi-streaming model allowing $O(n)$ space, it can be computed in $O(n)$ passes, where each pass adds one vertex to the DFS tree. However, it remains an open pro…
This paper studies the set cover problem under the semi-streaming model. The underlying set system is formalized in terms of a hypergraph $G = (V, E)$ whose edges arrive one-by-one and the goal is to construct an edge cover $F \subseteq E$ with the objective of minimizing the cardinality (or cost in the weighted case) of $F$. We consider a parameterized relaxation of this problem, where given some $0 \leq ε< 1$, the goal is to construct an edge $(1 - ε)$-cover, namely, a subset of edges incident to all but an $ε$-fraction of the vertices (or their benefit in the weighted case). The key limitat…
Forgetting Alternation and Blossoms: A New Framework for Fast Matching Augmentation and Its Applications to Sequential/Distributed/Streaming Computation
The GC problem is to identify a pre-determined number of center vertices such that the distances or costs from (or to) the centers to (or from) other vertices is minimized. The bottleneck of a path is the minimum capacity of edges on the path. The Bottleneck Paths (BP) problem is to compute the paths that give us the maximum bottleneck values between pairs of vertices. The Graph Bottleneck (GB) problem is to find the minimum bottleneck value out of bottleneck paths for all possible pairs of vertices. We give two similar algorithms that are based on binary search to solve the 1-center GC proble…
In the Shortest Superstring problem, we are given a set of strings and we are asking for a common superstring, which has the minimum number of characters. The Shortest Superstring problem is NP-hard and several constant-factor approximation algorithms are known for it. Of particular interest is the GREEDY algorithm, which repeatedly merges two strings of maximum overlap until a single string remains. The GREEDY algorithm, being simpler than other well-performing approximation algorithms for this problem, has attracted attention since the 1980s and is commonly used in practical applications. Ta…
We study the maximum matching problem in the random-order semi-streaming setting. In this problem, the edges of an arbitrary $n$-vertex graph $G=(V, E)$ arrive in a stream one by one and in a random order. The goal is to have a single pass over the stream, use $n \cdot poly(\log n)$ space, and output a large matching of $G$. We prove that for an absolute constant $ε_0 > 0$, one can find a $(2/3 + ε_0)$-approximate maximum matching of $G$ using $O(n \log n)$ space with high probability. This breaks the natural boundary of $2/3$ for this problem prevalent in the prior work and resolves an open p…
