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Nathan Klein

Publications and source records attributed to Nathan Klein.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Maximum Entropy is a 10/7-Approximation Algorithm for the TSP on Half-Integral Cycle Cut Instances

One of the most famous conjectures in combinatorial optimization is the four-thirds conjecture, which states that the integrality gap of the Subtour LP relaxation of the TSP is equal to $\frac{4}{3}$. For 40 years, the best known upper bound was $1.5$, due to Wolsey. Recently, Karlin, Klein, and Oveis Gharan showed that the max entropy algorithm for the TSP gives an improved bound of $1.5 - 10^{-36}$. In this paper, we show that the maximum entropy algorithm is a $\frac{10}{7}$-approximation for half-integral cycle cut instances of the TSP. This class of instances contains examples which demonstrate the subtour LP has an integrality gap of at least $\frac{4}{3}$, as well as examples showing that the performance of the max entropy algorithm is no better than $\frac{11}{8}$. We note that the authors recently gave an algorithm upper bounding the integrality gap of this class of instances by $\frac{4}{3}$, so this work does not (and could not) provide an improved bound on the integrality gap. However, since there is no reason to believe that the analysis of the maximum entropy algorithm on general instances is tight, our work provides hope (and potentially direction) for improved analysis on other instance classes.

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arXiv2026

Thin Trees for Near Minimum Cuts

The strong thin tree conjecture states that every $k$-edge-connected graph $G$ contains an $O(1/k)$-thin spanning tree, meaning a spanning tree which contains at most an $O(1/k)$ fraction of the edges across each cut in $G$. This conjecture is still open despite significant effort; the best current result by Anari and Oveis Gharan shows the existence of an $O(\text{polyloglog}(n)/k)$-thin tree. In this work, we demonstrate that the conjecture is true if one only requires thinness for the set of $\eta$-near minimum cuts of the graph for $\eta = 1/40$, in other words, for the set of cuts with fewer than $(1+1/40)k$ edges. Our approach constructs such a tree in polynomial time. To show this, we utilize the structure of near minimum cuts, and in particular the polygon representation of Bencz\'ur and Goemans, to reduce to the previously solved problem of finding a spanning tree that is $O(1/k)$-thin for all sets in a laminar family.

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arXiv2026

A Strong Linear Programming Relaxation for Weighted Tree Augmentation

The Weighted Tree Augmentation Problem (WTAP) is a fundamental network design problem where the goal is to find a minimum-cost set of additional edges (links) to make an input tree 2-edge-connected. While a 2-approximation is standard and the integrality gap of the classic Cut LP relaxation is known to be at least 1.5, achieving approximation factors significantly below 2 has proven challenging. Recent advances of Traub and Zenklusen using local search culminated in a ratio of $1.5+\epsilon$, establishing the state-of-the-art. In this work, we present a randomized approximation algorithm for WTAP with an approximation ratio below 1.49. Our approach is based on designing and rounding a strong linear programming relaxation for WTAP which incorporates variables that represent subsets of edges and the links used to cover them, inspired by lift-and-project methods like Sherali-Adams.

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arXiv2025

Dual Charging for Half-Integral TSP

We show that the max entropy algorithm is a randomized 1.49776 approximation for half-integral TSP, improving upon the previous known bound of 1.49993 from Karlin et al. This also improves upon the best-known approximation for half-integral TSP due to Gupta et al. Our improvement results from using the dual, instead of the primal, to analyze the expected cost of the matching. We believe this method of analysis could lead to a simpler proof that max entropy is a better-than-3/2 approximation in the general case. We also give a 1.4671 approximation for half integral LP solutions with no proper minimum cuts and an even number of vertices, improving upon the bound of Haddadan and Newman of 1.476. We then extend the analysis to the case when there are an odd number of vertices $n$ at the cost of an additional $O(1/n)$ factor.

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arXiv2025

A Randomized Rounding Approach for DAG Edge Deletion

In the DAG Edge Deletion problem, we are given an edge-weighted directed acyclic graph and a parameter $k$, and the goal is to delete the minimum weight set of edges so that the resulting graph has no paths of length $k$. This problem, which has applications to scheduling, was introduced in 2015 by Kenkre, Pandit, Purohit, and Saket. They gave a $k$-approximation and showed that it is UGC-Hard to approximate better than $\lfloor 0.5k \rfloor$ for any constant $k \ge 4$ using a work of Svensson from 2012. The approximation ratio was improved to $\frac{2}{3}(k+1)$ by Klein and Wexler in 2016. In this work, we introduce a randomized rounding framework based on distributions over vertex labels in $[0,1]$. The most natural distribution is to sample labels independently from the uniform distribution over $[0,1]$. We show this leads to a $(2-\sqrt{2})(k+1) \approx 0.585(k+1)$-approximation. By using a modified (but still independent) label distribution, we obtain a $0.549(k+1)$-approximation for the problem, as well as show that no independent distribution over labels can improve our analysis to below $0.542(k+1)$. Finally, we show a $0.5(k+1)$-approximation for bipartite graphs and for instances with structured LP solutions. Whether this ratio can be obtained in general is open.

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arXiv2023

Ghost Value Augmentation for $k$-Edge-Connectivity

We give a poly-time algorithm for the $k$-edge-connected spanning subgraph ($k$-ECSS) problem that returns a solution of cost no greater than the cheapest $(k+10)$-ECSS on the same graph. Our approach enhances the iterative relaxation framework with a new ingredient, which we call ghost values, that allows for high sparsity in intermediate problems. Our guarantees improve upon the best-known approximation factor of $2$ for $k$-ECSS whenever the optimal value of $(k+10)$-ECSS is close to that of $k$-ECSS. This is a property that holds for the closely related problem $k$-edge-connected spanning multi-subgraph ($k$-ECSM), which is identical to $k$-ECSS except edges can be selected multiple times at the same cost. As a consequence, we obtain a $\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{k}\right)\right)$-approximation algorithm for $k$-ECSM, which resolves a conjecture of Pritchard and improves upon a recent $\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}\right)\right)$-approximation algorithm of Karlin, Klein, Oveis Gharan, and Zhang. Moreover, we present a matching lower bound for $k$-ECSM, showing that our approximation ratio is tight up to the constant factor in $O\left(\frac{1}{k}\right)$, unless $P=NP$.

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arXiv2023

From Trees to Polynomials and Back Again: New Capacity Bounds with Applications to TSP

We give simply exponential lower bounds on the probabilities of a given strongly Rayleigh distribution, depending only on its expectation. This resolves a weak version of a problem left open by Karlin-Klein-Oveis Gharan in their recent breakthrough work on metric TSP, and this resolution leads to a minor improvement of their approximation factor for metric TSP. Our results also allow for a more streamlined analysis of the algorithm. To achieve these new bounds, we build upon the work of Gurvits-Leake on the use of the productization technique for bounding the capacity of a real stable polynomial. This technique allows one to reduce certain inequalities for real stable polynomials to products of affine linear forms, which have an underlying matrix structure. In this paper, we push this technique further by characterizing the worst-case polynomials via bipartitioned forests. This rigid combinatorial structure yields a clean induction argument, which implies our stronger bounds. In general, we believe the results of this paper will lead to further improvement and simplification of the analysis of various combinatorial and probabilistic bounds and algorithms.

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arXiv2023

A Lower Bound for the Max Entropy Algorithm for TSP

One of the most famous conjectures in combinatorial optimization is the four-thirds conjecture, which states that the integrality gap of the subtour LP relaxation of the TSP is equal to $\frac43$. For 40 years, the best known upper bound was 1.5, due to Wolsey (1980). Recently, Karlin, Klein, and Oveis Gharan (2022) showed that the max entropy algorithm for the TSP gives an improved bound of $1.5 - 10^{-36}$. In this paper, we show that the approximation ratio of the max entropy algorithm is at least 1.375, even for graphic TSP. Thus the max entropy algorithm does not appear to be the algorithm that will ultimately resolve the four-thirds conjecture in the affirmative, should that be possible.

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arXiv2023

A Better-Than-1.6-Approximation for Prize-Collecting TSP

Prize-Collecting TSP is a variant of the traveling salesperson problem where one may drop vertices from the tour at the cost of vertex-dependent penalties. The quality of a solution is then measured by adding the length of the tour and the sum of all penalties of vertices that are not visited. We present a polynomial-time approximation algorithm with an approximation guarantee slightly below $1.6$, where the guarantee is with respect to the natural linear programming relaxation of the problem. This improves upon the previous best-known approximation ratio of $1.774$. Our approach is based on a known decomposition for solutions of this linear relaxation into rooted trees. Our algorithm takes a tree from this decomposition and then performs a pruning step before doing parity correction on the remainder. Using a simple analysis, we bound the approximation guarantee of the proposed algorithm by $(1+\sqrt{5})/2 \approx 1.618$, the golden ratio. With some additional technical care we further improve it to $1.599$. Furthermore, we show that for the path version of Prize-Collecting TSP (known as Prize-Collecting Stroll) our approach yields an approximation guarantee of 1.6662, improving upon the previous best-known guarantee of 1.926.

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arXiv2023

Thin trees for laminar families

In the laminar-constrained spanning tree problem, the goal is to find a minimum-cost spanning tree which respects upper bounds on the number of times each cut in a given laminar family is crossed. This generalizes the well-studied degree-bounded spanning tree problem, as well as a previously studied setting where a chain of cuts is given. We give the first constant-factor approximation algorithm; in particular we show how to obtain a multiplicative violation of the crossing bounds of less than 22 while losing less than a factor of 5 in terms of cost. Our result compares to the natural LP relaxation. As a consequence, our results show that given a $k$-edge-connected graph and a laminar family $\mathcal{L} \subseteq 2^V$ of cuts, there exists a spanning tree which contains only an $O(1/k)$ fraction of the edges across every cut in $\mathcal{L}$. This can be viewed as progress towards the Thin Tree Conjecture, which (in a strong form) states that this guarantee can be obtained for all cuts simultaneously.

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arXiv2022

A (Slightly) Improved Deterministic Approximation Algorithm for Metric TSP

We show that the max entropy algorithm can be derandomized (with respect to a particular objective function) to give a deterministic $3/2-\epsilon$ approximation algorithm for metric TSP for some $\epsilon > 10^{-36}$. To obtain our result, we apply the method of conditional expectation to an objective function constructed in prior work which was used to certify that the expected cost of the algorithm is at most $3/2-\epsilon$ times the cost of an optimal solution to the subtour elimination LP. The proof in this work involves showing that the expected value of this objective function can be computed in polynomial time (at all stages of the algorithm's execution).

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arXiv2022

A 4/3-Approximation Algorithm for Half-Integral Cycle Cut Instances of the TSP

A long-standing conjecture for the traveling salesman problem (TSP) states that the integrality gap of the standard linear programming relaxation of the TSP is at most 4/3. Despite significant efforts, the conjecture remains open. We consider the half-integral case, in which the LP has solution values in $\{0, 1/2, 1\}$. Such instances have been conjectured to be the most difficult instances for the overall four-thirds conjecture. Karlin, Klein, and Oveis Gharan, in a breakthrough result, were able to show that in the half-integral case, the integrality gap is at most 1.49993. This result led to the first significant progress on the overall conjecture in decades; the same authors showed the integrality gap is at most $1.5- 10^{-36}$ in the non-half-integral case. For the half-integral case, the current best-known ratio is 1.4983, a result by Gupta et al. With the improvements on the 3/2 bound remaining very incremental even in the half-integral case, we turn the question around and look for a large class of half-integral instances for which we can prove that the 4/3 conjecture is correct. The previous works on the half-integral case perform induction on a hierarchy of critical tight sets in the support graph of the LP solution, in which some of the sets correspond to "cycle cuts" and the others to "degree cuts". We show that if all the sets in the hierarchy correspond to cycle cuts, then we can find a distribution of tours whose expected cost is at most 4/3 times the value of the half-integral LP solution; sampling from the distribution gives us a randomized 4/3-approximation algorithm. We note that the known bad cases for the integrality gap have a gap of 4/3 and have a half-integral LP solution in which all the critical tight sets in the hierarchy are cycle cuts; thus our result is tight.

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arXiv2021

Matroid Partition Property and the Secretary Problem

A matroid $\mathcal{M}$ on a set $E$ of elements has the $\alpha$-partition property, for some $\alpha>0$, if it is possible to (randomly) construct a partition matroid $\mathcal{P}$ on (a subset of) elements of $\mathcal{M}$ such that every independent set of $\mathcal{P}$ is independent in $\mathcal{M}$ and for any weight function $w:E\to\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}$, the expected value of the optimum of the matroid secretary problem on $\mathcal{P}$ is at least an $\alpha$-fraction of the optimum on $\mathcal{M}$. We show that the complete binary matroid, ${\cal B}_d$ on $\mathbb{F}_2^d$ does not satisfy the $\alpha$-partition property for any constant $\alpha>0$ (independent of $d$). Furthermore, we refute a recent conjecture of B\'erczi, Schwarcz, and Yamaguchi by showing the same matroid is $2^d/d$-colorable but cannot be reduced to an $\alpha 2^d/d$-colorable partition matroid for any $\alpha$ that is sublinear in $d$.

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arXiv2021

A (Slightly) Improved Bound on the Integrality Gap of the Subtour LP for TSP

We show that for some $\epsilon > 10^{-36}$ and any metric TSP instance, the max entropy algorithm returns a solution of expected cost at most $\frac{3}{2}-\epsilon$ times the cost of the optimal solution to the subtour elimination LP. This implies that the integrality gap of the subtour LP is at most $\frac{3}{2}-\epsilon$. This analysis also shows that there is a randomized $\frac{3}{2}-\epsilon$ approximation for the 2-edge-connected multi-subgraph problem, improving upon Christofides' algorithm.

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arXiv2019

An Improved Approximation Algorithm for TSP in the Half Integral Case

We design a $1.49993$-approximation algorithm for the metric traveling salesperson problem (TSP) for instances in which an optimal solution to the subtour linear programming relaxation is half-integral. These instances received significant attention over the last decade due to a conjecture of Schalekamp, Williamson and van Zuylen stating that half-integral LP solutions have the largest integrality gap over all fractional solutions. So, if the conjecture of Schalekamp et al. holds true, our result shows that the integrality gap of the subtour polytope is bounded away from $3/2$.

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