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Michael Poss

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Poss.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

The complexity landscape of robust (integer) linear programming

We study the computational complexity of the decision versions of three classic robust optimization problems: static robust optimization, two-stage (adjustable) robust optimization, and $K$-adaptability. We consider that the feasibility, uncertainty, and recourse sets are polyhedra or integer-programming-representable sets, the uncertainty is decision-independent or decision-dependent, and the feasible regions are bounded or unbounded. While these problems are well-established in the current literature, we give a systematic classification that places the resulting problems in $\mathsf{P}$, $\mathsf{NP}$, $\mathsf{coNP}$, and higher levels of the polynomial hierarchy ($\Sigma_2^p$ and $\Sigma_3^p$), and, once decision-dependent uncertainty introduces quadratic constraints, in the existential theory of the reals and its hierarchy ($\exists\mathbb{R}$, $\Sigma_2\mathbb{R}$, and $\Sigma_3\mathbb{R}$) or among the undecidable problems. Beyond hardness reductions, we pay particular attention to membership proofs, establishing polynomial-size certificates even though the sets considered generally contain vectors of exponential encoding length. As a by-product, we give an alternative proof that bilevel linear optimization lies in $\mathsf{NP}$, exploiting its connection to decision-dependent robust optimization. For $K$-adaptability, we relate the problem to its static and two-stage counterparts, showing that hardness grows monotonically with $K$ and that, for fully discrete decision-dependent instances, $K$-adaptability reduces back to the static problem.

math.OC

Robust Extensible Bin Packing and Revisiting the Convex Knapsack Problem

We study a robust extensible bin packing problem with budgeted uncertainty, under a budgeted uncertainty model where item sizes are defined to lie in the intersection of a box with a one-norm ball. We propose a scenario generation algorithm for this problem, which alternates between solving a master robust bin-packing problem with a finite uncertainty set and solving a separation problem. We first show that the separation is strongly NP-hard given solutions to the continuous relaxation of the master problem. Then, focusing on the separation problem for the integer master problem, we show that this problem becomes a special case of the continuous convex knapsack problem, which is known to be weakly NP-hard. Next, we prove that our special case when each of the functions is piecewise linear, having only two pieces, remains NP-hard. We develop a pseudo-polynomial dynamic program (DP) and a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme (FPTAS) for our special case whose running times match those of a binary knapsack FPTAS. Finally, our computational study shows that the DP can be significantly more efficient in practice compared with solving the problem with specially ordered set (SOS) constraints using advanced mixed-integer (MIP) solvers. Our experiments also demonstrate the application of our separation problem method to solving the robust extensible bin packing problem, including the evaluation of deferring the exact solution of the master problem, separating based on approximate master solutions in intermediate iterations. Finally, a case-study, based on real elective surgery data, demonstrates the potential advantage of our model compared with the actual schedule and optimal nominal schedules.

cs.DM

Smooth Uncertainty Sets: Dependence of Uncertain Parameters via a Simple Polyhedral Set

We propose a novel polyhedral uncertainty set for robust optimization, termed the smooth uncertainty set, which captures dependencies of uncertain parameters by constraining their pairwise differences. The bounds on these differences may be dictated by the underlying physics of the problem and may be expressed by domain experts. When correlations are available, the bounds can be set to ensure that the associated probabilistic constraints are satisfied for any given probability. We explore specialized solution methods for the resulting optimization problems, including compact reformulations that exploit special structures when they appear, a column generation algorithm, and a reformulation of the adversarial problem as a minimum-cost flow problem. Our numerical experiments, based on problems from literature, illustrate (i) that the performance of the smooth uncertainty set model solution is similar to that of the ellipsoidal uncertainty model solution, albeit, it is computed within significantly shorter running times, and (ii) our column-generation algorithm can outperform the classical cutting plane algorithm and dualized reformulation, respectively in terms of solution time and memory consumption.

math.OC

The robust selection problem with information discovery

We explore a multiple-stage variant of the min-max robust selection problem with budgeted uncertainty that includes queries. First, one queries a subset of items and gets the exact values of their uncertain parameters. Given this information, one can then choose the set of items to be selected, still facing uncertainty on the unobserved parameters. In this paper, we study two specific variants of this problem. The first variant considers objective uncertainty and focuses on selecting a single item. The second variant considers constraint uncertainty instead, which means that some selected items may fail. We show that both problems are NP-hard in general. We also propose polynomial-time algorithms for special cases of the sets of items that can be queried. For the problem with constraint uncertainty, we also show how the objective function can be expressed as a linear program, leading to a mixed-integer linear programming reformulation for the general case. We illustrate the performance of this formulation using numerical experiments.

math.OC

Moderate Exponential-time Quantum Dynamic Programming Across the Subsets for Scheduling Problems

Grover Search is currently one of the main quantum algorithms leading to hybrid quantum-classical methods that reduce the worst-case time complexity for some combinatorial optimization problems. Specifically, the combination of Quantum Minimum Finding (obtained from Grover Search) with dynamic programming has proved particularly efficient in improving the complexity of NP-hard problems currently solved by classical dynamic programming. For these problems, the classical dynamic programming complexity in $\mathcal{O}^*(c^n)$, where $\mathcal{O}^*$ denotes that polynomial factors are ignored, can be reduced by a hybrid algorithm to $\mathcal{O}^*(c_{quant}^n)$, with $c_{quant} < c$. In this paper, we provide a bounded-error hybrid algorithm that achieves such an improvement for a broad class of NP-hard single-machine scheduling problems for which we give a generic description. Moreover, we extend this algorithm to tackle the 3-machine flowshop problem. Our algorithm reduces the exponential-part complexity compared to the best-known classical algorithm, sometimes at the cost of an additional pseudo-polynomial factor.

quant-ph

An introduction to variational quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems

Noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers (NISQ computers) are now readily available, motivating many researchers to experiment with Variational Quantum Algorithms (VQAs). Among them, the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is one of the most popular one studied by the combinatorial optimization community. In this tutorial, we provide a mathematical description of the class of Variational Quantum Algorithms, assuming no previous knowledge of quantum physics from the readers. We introduce precisely the key aspects of these hybrid algorithms on the quantum side (parametrized quantum circuit) and the classical side (guiding function, optimizer). We devote a particular attention to QAOA, detailing the quantum circuits involved in that algorithm, as well as the properties satisfied by its possible guiding functions. Finally, we discuss the recent literature on QAOA, highlighting several research trends.

math.OC

Approximating optimization problems in graphs with locational uncertainty

Many combinatorial optimization problems can be formulated as the search for a subgraph that satisfies certain properties and minimizes the total weight. We assume here that the vertices correspond to points in a metric space and can take any position in given uncertainty sets. Then, the cost function to be minimized is the sum of the distances for the worst positions of the vertices in their uncertainty sets. We propose two types of polynomial-time approximation algorithms. The first one relies on solving a deterministic counterpart of the problem where the uncertain distances are replaced with maximum pairwise distances. We study in details the resulting approximation ratio, which depends on the structure of the feasible subgraphs and whether the metric space is Ptolemaic or not. The second algorithm is a fully-polynomial time approximation scheme for the special case of $s-t$ paths.

cs.DS

Optimization problems in graphs with locational uncertainty

Many discrete optimization problems amount to selecting a feasible set of edges of least weight. We consider in this paper the context of spatial graphs where the positions of the vertices are uncertain and belong to known uncertainty sets. The objective is to minimize the sum of the distances of the chosen set of edges for the worst positions of the vertices in their uncertainty sets. We first prove that these problems are $\cal NP$-hard even when the feasible sets consist either of all spanning trees or of all $s-t$ paths. Given this hardness, we propose an exact solution algorithm combining integer programming formulations with a cutting plane algorithm, identifying the cases where the separation problem can be solved efficiently. We also propose a conservative approximation and show its equivalence to the affine decision rule approximation in the context of Euclidean distances. We compare our algorithms to three deterministic reformulations on instances inspired by the scientific literature for the Steiner tree problem and a facility location problem.

cs.DS

Min-Max-Min Robustness for Combinatorial Problems with Discrete Budgeted Uncertainty

We consider robust combinatorial optimization problems with cost uncertainty where the decision maker can prepare K solutions beforehand and chooses the best of them once the true cost is revealed. Also known as min-max-min robustness (a special case of K-adaptability), it is a viable alternative to otherwise intractable two-stage problems. The uncertainty set assumed in this paper considers that in any scenario, at most Gamma of the components of the cost vectors will be higher than expected, which corresponds to the extreme points of the budgeted uncertainty set. While the classical min-max problem with budgeted uncertainty is essentially as easy as the underlying deterministic problem, it turns out that the min-max-min problem is NPhard for many easy combinatorial optimization problems, and not approximable in general. We thus present an integer programming formulation for solving the problem through a row-and-column generation algorithm. While exact, this algorithm can only cope with small problems, so we present two additional heuristics leveraging the structure of budgeted uncertainty. We compare our row-and-column generation algorithm and our heuristics on knapsack and shortest path instances previously used in the scientific literature and find that the heuristics obtain good quality solutions in short computational times.

math.OC

Approximation results for makespan minimization with budgeted uncertainty

We study approximation algorithms for the problem of minimizing the makespan on a set of machines with uncertainty on the processing times of jobs. In the model we consider, which goes back to~\cite{BertsimasS03}, once the schedule is defined an adversary can pick a scenario where deviation is added to some of the jobs' processing times. Given only the maximal cardinality of these jobs, and the magnitude of potential deviation for each job, the goal is to optimize the worst-case scenario. We consider both the cases of identical and unrelated machines. Our main result is an EPTAS for the case of identical machines. We also provide a $3$-approximation algorithm and an inapproximability ratio of $2-\epsilon$ for the case of unrelated machines

cs.DS

Faster Algorithms for Min-max-min Robustness for Combinatorial Problems with Budgeted Uncertainty

We consider robust combinatorial optimization problems where the decision maker can react to a scenario by choosing from a finite set of $k$ solutions. This approach is appropriate for decision problems under uncertainty where the implementation of decisions requires preparing the ground. We focus on the case that the set of possible scenarios is described through a budgeted uncertainty set and provide three algorithms for the problem. The first algorithm solves heuristically the dualized problem, a non-convex mixed-integer non-linear program (MINLP), via an alternating optimization approach. The second algorithm solves the MINLP exactly for $k=2$ through a dedicated spatial branch-and-bound algorithm. The third approach enumerates $k$-tuples, relying on strong bounds to avoid a complete enumeration. We test our methods on shortest path instances that were used in the previous literature and on randomly generated knapsack instances, and find that our methods considerably outperform previous approaches. Many instances that were previously not solved within hours can now be solved within few minutes, often even faster.

math.OC