arXiv subjects

Martin Koutecký

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Koutecký.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Parameterized Algorithms for MILPs with Small Treedepth

Solving (mixed) integer linear programs, (M)ILPs for short, is a fundamental optimization task. While hard in general, recent years have brought about vast progress for solving structurally restricted, (non-mixed) ILPs: $n$-fold, tree-fold, 2-stage stochastic and multi-stage stochastic programs admit efficient algorithms, and all of these special cases are subsumed by the class of ILPs of small treedepth. In this paper, we extend this line of work to the mixed case, by showing an algorithm solving MILP in time $f(a,d) \textrm{poly}(n)$, where $a$ is the largest coefficient of the constraint matrix, $d$ is its treedepth, and $n$ is the number of variables. This is enabled by proving bounds on the denominators of the vertices of bounded-treedepth (non-integer) linear programs. We do so by carefully analyzing the inverses of invertible submatrices of the constraint matrix. This allows us to afford scaling up the mixed program to the integer grid, and applying the known methods for integer programs. We trace the limiting boundary of our approach, showing that naturally related classes of linear programs have vertices of unbounded fractionality. Finally, we show that restricting the structure of only the integral variables in the constraint matrix does not yield tractable special cases.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Simplified Algorithmic Metatheorems Beyond MSO: Treewidth and Neighborhood Diversity

This paper settles the computational complexity of model checking of several extensions of the monadic second order (MSO) logic on two classes of graphs: graphs of bounded treewidth and graphs of bounded neighborhood diversity. A classical theorem of Courcelle states that any graph property definable in MSO is decidable in linear time on graphs of bounded treewidth. Algorithmic metatheorems like Courcelle's serve to generalize known positive results on various graph classes. We explore and extend three previously studied MSO extensions: global and local cardinality constraints (CardMSO and MSO-LCC) and optimizing the fair objective function (fairMSO). First, we show how these extensions of MSO relate to each other in their expressive power. Furthermore, we highlight a certain "linearity" of some of the newly introduced extensions which turns out to play an important role. Second, we provide parameterized algorithm for the aforementioned structural parameters. On the side of neighborhood diversity, we show that combining the linear variants of local and global cardinality constraints is possible while keeping the linear (FPT) runtime but removing linearity of either makes this impossible. Moreover, we provide a polynomial time (XP) algorithm for the most powerful of studied extensions, i.e. the combination of global and local constraints. Furthermore, we show a polynomial time (XP) algorithm on graphs of bounded treewidth for the same extension. In addition, we propose a general procedure of deriving XP algorithms on graphs on bounded treewidth via formulation as Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP). This shows an alternate approach as compared to standard dynamic programming formulations.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2019

New Bounds on Augmenting Steps of Block-structured Integer Programs

We consider 4-block $n$-fold integer programs, whose constraint matrix consists of $n$ copies of small matrices $A$, $B$, and $D$, and one copy of $C$, in a specific block structure. All existing algorithms along this line of research follows an iterative augmentation framework, which relies on the so-called Graver basis of the constraint matrix that constitutes a set of fundamental augmenting steps. Bounding the $\ell_1$- or $\ell_\infty$-norm of elements of the Graver basis is the key to these algorithms. Hemmecke et al.~[Math. Prog. 2014] showed that 4-block $n$-fold IP has Graver elements of $\ell_\infty$-norm at most $O_{FPT}(n^{2^{s_{D}}})$, leading to an algorithm with a similar runtime; here, $s_{D}$ is the number of rows of matrix $D$ and $ O_{FPT}(1)$ hides a multiplicative factor that is only dependent on the small matrices $A,B,C,D$. We prove that the $\ell_{\infty}$-norm of the Graver elements of 4-block $n$-fold IP is upper bounded by $O_{FPT}(n^{s_{D}})$, improving significantly over the previous bound $O_{FPT} (n^{2^{s_{D}}})$. We also provide a matching lower bound of $Ω(n^{s_{D}})$ which even holds for arbitrary non-zero lattice elements, ruling out augmenting algorithm relying on even more restricted notions of augmentation than the Graver basis. We then consider a special case of 4-block $n$-fold in which $C$ is a zero matrix, called 3-block $n$-fold IP. We show that while even there the $\ell_{\infty}$-norm of its Graver elements is $Ω(n^{s_{D}})$, there exists a different decomposition into lattice elements whose $\ell_{\infty}$-norm is bounded by $ O_{FPT}(1)$, which allows us to provide improved upper bounds on the $\ell_{\infty}$-norm of Graver elements for 3-block $n$-fold IP.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Multitype Integer Monoid Optimization and Applications

Configuration integer programs (IP) have been key in the design of algorithms for NP-hard high-multiplicity problems since the pioneering work of Gilmore and Gomory [Oper. Res., 1961]. Configuration IPs have a variable for each possible configuration, which describes a placement of items into a location, and whose value corresponds to the number of locations with that placement. In high multiplicity problems items come in types, and are represented succinctly by a vector of multiplicities; solving the configuration IP then amounts to deciding whether the input vector of multiplicities of items of each type can be decomposed into a given number of configurations. We make this implicit notion explicit by observing that the set of all input vectors decomposable into configurations forms a monoid, and solving the configuration IP is the Monoid Decomposition problem. Motivated by applications, we enrich this problem in two ways. First, sometimes each configuration additionally has an objective value, yielding an optimization problem of finding a "best" decomposition under the given objective. Second, there are often different types of configurations for different types of locations. The resulting problem is to optimize over decompositions of the input multiplicity vector into configurations of several types, and we call it Multitype Integer Monoid Optimization, or MIMO. We develop fast exact algorithms for various MIMO with few or many location types and with various objectives. Our algorithms build on a novel proximity theorem connecting the solutions of a certain configuration IP to those of its continuous relaxation. We then cast several fundamental scheduling and bin packing problems as MIMOs, and thereby obtain new or substantially faster algorithms for them. We complement our positive algorithmic results by hardness results.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2019

Evaluating and Tuning n-fold Integer Programming

In recent years, algorithmic breakthroughs in stringology, computational social choice, scheduling, etc., were achieved by applying the theory of so-called $n$-fold integer programming. An $n$-fold integer program (IP) has a highly uniform block structured constraint matrix. Hemmecke, Onn, and Romanchuk [Math. Programming, 2013] showed an algorithm with runtime $a^{O(rst + r^2s)} n^3$, where $a$ is the largest coefficient, $r,s$, and $t$ are dimensions of blocks of the constraint matrix and $n$ is the total dimension of the IP; thus, an algorithm efficient if the blocks are of small size and with small coefficients. The algorithm works by iteratively improving a feasible solution with augmenting steps, and $n$-fold IPs have the special property that augmenting steps are guaranteed to exist in a not-too-large neighborhood. We have implemented the algorithm and learned the following along the way. The original algorithm is practically unusable, but we discover a series of improvements which make its evaluation possible. Crucially, we observe that a certain constant in the algorithm can be treated as a tuning parameter, which yields an efficient heuristic (essentially searching in a smaller-than-guaranteed neighborhood). Furthermore, the algorithm uses an overly expensive strategy to find a "best" step, while finding only an "approximatelly best" step is much cheaper, yet sufficient for quick convergence. Using this insight, we improve the asymptotic dependence on $n$ from $n^3$ to $n^2 \log n$. We show that decreasing the tuning parameter initially leads to an increased number of iterations needed for convergence and eventually to getting stuck in local optima, as expected. However, surprisingly small values of the parameter already exhibit good behavior. Second, our new strategy for finding "approximatelly best" steps wildly outperforms the original construction.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

Voting and Bribing in Single-Exponential Time

We introduce a general problem about bribery in voting systems. In the $\mathcal{R}$-Multi-Bribery problem, the goal is to bribe a set of voters at minimum cost such that a desired candidate wins the perturbed election under the voting rule R. Voters assign prices for withdrawing their vote, for swapping the positions of two consecutive candidates in their preference order, and for perturbing their approval count to favour candidates. As our main result, we show that $\mathcal{R}$-Multi-Bribery is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the number of candidates for many natural voting rules $\mathcal{R}$, including Kemeny rule, all scoring protocols, maximin rule, Bucklin rule, fallback rule, SP-AV, and any C1 rule. In particular, our result resolves the parameterized complexity of $\mathcal{R}$-Swap Bribery for all those voting rules, thereby solving a long-standing open problem and "Challenge #2" of the "Nine Research Challenges in Computational Social Choice" by Bredereck et al. Further, our algorithm runs in single-exponential time for arbitrary cost; it thus improves the earlier double-exponential time algorithm by Dorn and Schlotter that is restricted to the uniform-cost case for all scoring protocols, the maximin rule, and Bucklin rule.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

Integer Programming in Parameterized Complexity: Three Miniatures

Powerful results from the theory of integer programming have recently led to substantial advances in parameterized complexity. However, our perception is that, except for Lenstra's algorithm for solving integer linear programming in fixed dimension, there is still little understanding in the parameterized complexity community of the strengths and limitations of the available tools. This is understandable: it is often difficult to infer exact runtimes or even the distinction between FPT and XP algorithms, and some knowledge is simply unwritten folklore in a different community. We wish to make a step in remedying this situation. To that end, we first provide an easy to navigate quick reference guide of integer programming algorithms from the perspective of parameterized complexity. Then, we show their applications in three case studies, obtaining FPT algorithms with runtime $f(k)poly(n)$. We focus on: * Modeling: since the algorithmic results follow by applying existing algorithms to new models, we shift the focus from the complexity result to the modeling result, highlighting common patterns and tricks which are used. * Optimality program: after giving an FPT algorithm, we are interested in reducing the dependence on the parameter; we show which algorithms and tricks are often useful for speed-ups. * Minding the poly(n): reducing $f(k)$ often has the unintended consequence of increasing poly(n); so we highlight the common trade-offs and show how to get the best of both worlds. Specifically, we consider graphs of bounded neighborhood diversity which are in a sense the simplest of dense graphs, and we show several FPT algorithms for Capacitated Dominating Set, Sum Coloring, and Max-q-Cut by modeling them as convex programs in fixed dimension, n-fold integer programs, bounded dual treewidth programs, and indefinite quadratic programs in fixed dimension.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

Approximating Max-Cut under Graph-MSO Constraints

We consider the max-cut and max-$k$-cut problems under graph-based constraints. Our approach can handle any constraint specified using monadic second-order (MSO) logic on graphs of constant treewidth. We give a $\frac{1}{2}$-approximation algorithm for this class of problems.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2018

Parameterized Resiliency Problems via Integer Linear Programming

We introduce an extension of decision problems called resiliency problems. In resiliency problems, the goal is to decide whether an instance remains positive after any (appropriately defined) perturbation has been applied to it. To tackle these kinds of problems, some of which might be of practical interest, we introduce a notion of resiliency for Integer Linear Programs (ILP) and show how to use a result of Eisenbrand and Shmonin (Math. Oper. Res., 2008) on Parametric Linear Programming to prove that ILP Resiliency is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) under a certain parameterization. To demonstrate the utility of our result, we consider natural resiliency versions of several concrete problems, and prove that they are FPT under natural parameterizations. Our first results concern a four-variate problem which generalizes the Disjoint Set Cover problem and which is of interest in access control. We obtain a complete parameterized complexity classification for every possible combination of the parameters. Then, we introduce and study a resiliency version of the Closest String problem, for which we extend an FPT result of Gramm et al. (Algorithmica, 2003). We also consider problems in the fields of scheduling and social choice. We believe that many other problems can be tackled by our framework.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

A Parameterized Strongly Polynomial Algorithm for Block Structured Integer Programs

The theory of $n$-fold integer programming has been recently emerging as an important tool in parameterized complexity. The input to an $n$-fold integer program (IP) consists of parameter $A$, dimension $n$, and numerical data of binary encoding length $L$. It was known for some time that such programs can be solved in polynomial time using $O(n^{g(A)}L)$ arithmetic operations where $g$ is an exponential function of the parameter. In 2013 it was shown that it can be solved in fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) time using $O(f(A)n^3L)$ arithmetic operations for a single-exponential function $f$. This, and a faster algorithm for a special case of combinatorial $n$-fold IP, have led to several very recent breakthroughs in the parameterized complexity of scheduling, stringology, and computational social choice. In 2015 it was shown that it can be solved in strongly polynomial time using $O(n^{g(A)})$ arithmetic operations. Here we establish a result which subsumes all three of the above results by showing that $n$-fold IP can be solved in strongly polynomial FPT time using $O(f(A)n^3)$ arithmetic operations. In fact, our results are much more general, briefly outlined as follows. - There is a strongly polynomial algorithm for ILP whenever a so-called Graver-best oracle is realizable for it. - Graver-best oracles for the large classes of multi-stage stochastic and tree-fold ILPs can be realized in FPT time. Together with the previous oracle algorithm, this newly shows two large classes of ILP to be strongly polynomial; in contrast, only few classes of ILP were previously known to be strongly polynomial. - We show that ILP is FPT parameterized by the largest coefficient $\|A\|_\infty$ and the primal or dual treedepth of $A$, and that this parameterization cannot be relaxed, signifying substantial progress in understanding the parameterized complexity of ILP.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2018

A Unifying Framework for Manipulation Problems

Manipulation models for electoral systems are a core research theme in social choice theory; they include bribery (unweighted, weighted, swap, shift, ...), control (by adding or deleting voters or candidates), lobbying in referenda and others. We develop a unifying framework for manipulation models with few types of people, one of the most commonly studied scenarios. A critical insight of our framework is to separate the descriptive complexity of the voting rule R from the number of types of people. This allows us to finally settle the computational complexity of R-Swap Bribery, one of the most fundamental manipulation problems. In particular, we prove that R-Swap Bribery is fixed-parameter tractable when R is Dodgson's rule and Young's rule, when parameterized by the number of candidates. This way, we resolve a long-standing open question from 2007 which was explicitly asked by Faliszewski et al. [JAIR 40, 2011]. Our algorithms reveal that the true hardness of bribery problems often stems from the complexity of the voting rules. On one hand, we give a fixed-parameter algorithm parameterized by number of types of people for complex voting rules. Thus, we reveal that R-Swap Bribery with Dodgson's rule is much harder than with Condorcet's rule, which can be expressed by a conjunction of linear inequalities, while Dodson's rule requires quantifier alternation and a bounded number of disjunctions of linear systems. On the other hand, we give an algorithm for quantifier-free voting rules which is parameterized only by the number of conjunctions of the voting rule and runs in time polynomial in the number of types of people. This way, our framework explains why Shift Bribery is polynomial-time solvable for the plurality voting rule, making explicit that the rule is simple in that it can be expressed with a single linear inequality, and that the number of voter types is polynomial.

cs.MA↗

arXiv2017

Combinatorial n-fold Integer Programming and Applications

Many fundamental NP-hard problems can be formulated as integer linear programs (ILPs). A famous algorithm by Lenstra solves ILPs in time that is exponential only in the dimension of the program, and polynomial in the size of the ILP. That algorithm became a ubiquitous tool in the design of fixed-parameter algorithms for NP-hard problems, where one wishes to isolate the hardness of a problemby some parameter. However, in many cases using Lenstra's algorithm has two drawbacks: First, the run time of the resulting algorithms is often doubly-exponential in the parameter, and second, an ILP formulation in small dimension cannot easily express problems involving many different costs. Inspired by the work of Hemmecke, Onn and Romanchuk [Math. Prog. 2013], we develop a single-exponential algorithm for so-called combinatorial n-fold integer programs, which are remarkably similar to prior ILP formulations for various problems, but unlike them, also allow variable dimension. We then apply our algorithm to a few representative problems like Closest String, Swap Bribery, Weighted Set Multicover, and obtain exponential speedups in the dependence on the respective parameters, the input size, or both. Unlike Lenstra's algorithm, which is essentially a bounded search tree algorithm, our result uses the technique of augmenting steps. At its heart is a deep result stating that in combinatorial n-fold IPs, existence of an augmenting step implies existence of a \local" augmenting step, which can be found using dynamic programming. Our results provide an important insight into many problems by showing that they exhibit this phenomenon, and highlights the importance of augmentation techniques.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2017

Parameterized Shifted Combinatorial Optimization

Shifted combinatorial optimization is a new nonlinear optimization framework which is a broad extension of standard combinatorial optimization, involving the choice of several feasible solutions at a time. This framework captures well studied and diverse problems ranging from so-called vulnerability problems to sharing and partitioning problems. In particular, every standard combinatorial optimization problem has its shifted counterpart, which is typically much harder. Already with explicitly given input set the shifted problem may be NP-hard. In this article we initiate a study of the parameterized complexity of this framework. First we show that shifting over an explicitly given set with its cardinality as the parameter may be in XP, FPT or P, depending on the objective function. Second, we study the shifted problem over sets definable in MSO logic (which includes, e.g., the well known MSO partitioning problems). Our main results here are that shifted combinatorial optimization over MSO definable sets is in XP with respect to the MSO formula and the treewidth (or more generally clique-width) of the input graph, and is W[1]-hard even under further severe restrictions.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2017

Scheduling meets n-fold Integer Programming

Scheduling problems are fundamental in combinatorial optimization. Much work has been done on approximation algorithms for NP-hard cases, but relatively little is known about exact solutions when some part of the input is a fixed parameter. In 2014, Mnich and Wiese initiated a systematic study in this direction. In this paper we continue this study and show that several additional cases of fundamental scheduling problems are fixed parameter tractable for some natural parameters. Our main tool is n-fold integer programming, a recent variable dimension technique which we believe to be highly relevant for the parameterized complexity community. This paper serves to showcase and highlight this technique. Specifically, we show the following four scheduling problems to be fixed-parameter tractable, where p max is the maximum processing time of a job and w max is the maximum weight of a job: - Makespan minimization on uniformly related machines $(Q||C_{max} )$ parameterized by $p_{max}$, - Makespan minimization on unrelated machines $(R||C_{max} )$ parameterized by $p_{max}$ and the number of kinds of machines, - Sum of weighted completion times minimization on unrelated machines $(R|| \sum w_i C_i )$ parameterized by $p_{max} + w_{max}$ and the number of kinds of machines, - The same problem, $(R|| \sum w_i C_i),$ parameterized by the number of distinct job times and the number of machines.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2015

Fixed parameter complexity of distance constrained labeling and uniform channel assignment problems

We study computational complexity of the class of distance-constrained graph labeling problems from the fixed parameter tractability point of view. The parameters studied are neighborhood diversity and clique width. We rephrase the distance constrained graph labeling problem as a specific uniform variant of the Channel Assignment problem and show that this problem is fixed parameter tractable when parameterized by the neighborhood diversity together with the largest weight. Consequently, every $L(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_k)$-labeling problem is FPT when parameterized by the neighborhood diversity, the maximum $p_i$ and $k.$ Our results yield also FPT algorithms for all $L(p_1, p_2, \dots, p_k)$-labeling problems when parameterized by the size of a minimum vertex cover, answering an open question of Fiala et al.: Parameterized complexity of coloring problems: Treewidth versus vertex cover. The same consequence applies on Channel Assignment when the maximum weight is additionally included among the parameters. Finally, we show that the uniform variant of the Channel Assignment problem becomes NP-complete when generalized to graphs of bounded clique width.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2015

Extended Formulation for CSP that is Compact for Instances of Bounded Treewidth

In this paper we provide an extended formulation for the class of constraint satisfaction problems and prove that its size is polynomial for instances whose constraint graph has bounded treewidth. This implies new upper bounds on extension complexity of several important NP-hard problems on graphs of bounded treewidth.

cs.CC↗