The Restricted Inverse Optimal Value Problem on Shortest Path under $l_\infty$ Norm on Trees

Abstract

We study the restricted inverse optimal value problem on shortest paths under the weighted $l_\infty$ norm on trees (RIOVSPT$_\infty$): adjust edge weights at minimum worst-link cost so that the shortest root--leaf path is lower-bounded by a given value $D$, a restriction on a prescribed path $P_0$. Unlike the $l_1$ version minimizing total adjustment cost, the $l_\infty$ objective controls the worst link, the criterion relevant in bandwidth pricing. We characterize feasibility through the minimum cost shortest path interdiction problem (MCSPIT$_\infty$), whose optimal solution $\hat w$ splits the instance at the first edge of $P_0$ into two independent subproblems. Relative to $\hat w$, three cases arise. The first two admit closed-form optimal solutions. The third reduces to a parametric subproblem SPIT$^0_\infty(M)$: minimize the length of $P_0$ on the gate subtree under the budget $C(\hat w)+M$ with all other root--leaf paths kept at least $D$. It is solved exactly by an iterative greedy procedure. On its value function $V(M)$, the predicate $V(M)\leq D$ is equivalent to the nonnegativity of truncated-bound margins, which are monotone, continuous and piecewise affine; the smallest such $M$ gives the optimal value, located by binary search over the edge-bound breakpoints with an exact affine threshold evaluation. The same margin test on the full tree gives a uniform algorithm for all cases. Both algorithms run in $O(n\log n)$ time. Experiments on synthetic trees agree with a linear programming baseline and illustrate the two algorithms' distinct runtime profiles.