The notion of recoverable value was advocated in work of Feige, Immorlica, Mirrokni and Nazerzadeh [Approx 2009] as a measure of quality for approximation algorithms. There this concept was applied to facility location problems. In the current work we apply a similar framework to the maximum independent set problem (MIS). We say that an approximation algorithm has recoverable value @math , if for every graph it recovers an independent set of size at least @math , where @math is the degree of vertex @math , and @math ranges over all independent sets in @math . Hence, in a sense, from every vertex @math in the maximum independent set the algorithm recovers a value of at least @math towards the solution. This quality measure is most effective in graphs in which the maximum independent set is composed of low degree vertices. It easily follows from known results that some simple algorithms for MIS ensure @math . We design a new randomized algorithm for MIS that ensures an expected recoverable value of at least @math . In addition, we show that approximating MIS in graphs with a given @math -coloring within a ratio larger than @math is unique games hard. This rules out a natural approach for obtaining @math .
In terms of hardness results, Austrin, Khot and Safra @cite_0 proved that approximating independent set in graphs of maximum degree @math within a ratio larger than @math is unique games hard. Recall that we present hardness results for finding independent sets in graphs where a @math -coloring is given. They essentially match the @math bounds achieved by known approximation algorithms @cite_2 . We are not aware of previous published hardness results for this problem, but there are some results for related problems on hypergraphs @cite_13 , and hardness results for MIS in graphs with bounded chromatic number but when no coloring is given @cite_16 .
@cite_0 @cite_16 @cite_13 @cite_2
2166369652 2001663593 2104254886 2950908404
We study the inapproximability of Vertex Cover and Independent Set on degree @math graphs. We prove that: Vertex Cover is Unique Games-hard to approximate to within a factor @math . This exactly matches the algorithmic result of Halperin halperin02improved up to the @math term. Independent Set is Unique Games-hard to approximate to within a factor @math . This improves the @math Unique Games hardness result of Samorodnitsky and Trevisan samorodnitsky06gowers . Additionally, our result does not rely on the construction of a query efficient PCP as in samorodnitsky06gowers . par>We prove some non-approximability results for restrictions of basic combinatorial optimization problems to instances of bounded “degreeror bounded “width.” Specifically: We prove that the Max 3SAT problem on instances where each variable occurs in at most B clauses, is hard to approximate to within a factor @math , unless @math . H stad [18] proved that the problem is approximable to within a factor @math in polynomial time, and that is hard to approximate to within a factor @math . Our result uses a new randomized reduction from general instances of Max 3SAT to bounded-occurrences instances. The randomized reduction applies to other Max SNP problems as well. We observe that the Set Cover problem on instances where each set has size at most B is hard to approximate to within a factor @math unless @math . The result follows from an appropriate setting of parameters in Feige's reduction [11]. This is essentially tight in light of the existence of @math -approximate algorithms [20, 23, 9] We present a new PCP construction, based on applying parallel repetition to the inner verifier,'' and we provide a tight analysis for it. Using the new construction, and some modifications to known reductions from PCP to Hitting Set, we prove that Hitting Set with sets of size B is hard to approximate to within a factor @math . The problem can be approximated to within a factor B [19], and it is the Vertex Cover problem for B =2. The relationship between hardness of approximation and set size seems to have not been explored before. We observe that the Independent Set problem on graphs having degree at most B is hard to approximate to within a factor @math , unless P = NP . This follows from a comination of results by Clementi and Trevisan [28] and Reingold, Vadhan and Wigderson [27]. It had been observed that the problem is hard to approximate to within a factor @math unless P = NP [1]. An algorithm achieving factor @math is also known [21, 2, 30, 16 . The paper considers the computational hardness of approximating the chromatic number of a graph. The authors first give a simple proof that approximating the chromatic number of a graph to within a constant power (of the value itself) in NP-hard. They then consider the hardness of coloring a 3-colorable graph with as few as possible colors. They show that determining whether a graph is 3-colorable or any legal coloring of it requires at least 5 colors is NP-hard. Therefore, coloring a 3-colorable graph with 4 colors is NP-hard. > We consider the maximum independent set problem on graphs with maximum degree @math . We show that the integrality gap of the Lov 'asz @math -function based SDP is @math . This improves on the previous best result of @math , and almost matches the integrality gap of @math recently shown for stronger SDPs, namely those obtained using poly- @math levels of the @math semidefinite hierarchy. The improvement comes from an improved Ramsey-theoretic bound on the independence number of @math -free graphs for large values of @math . We also show how to obtain an algorithmic version of the above-mentioned @math -based integrality gap result, via a coloring algorithm of Johansson. The resulting approximation guarantee of @math matches the best unique-games-based hardness result up to lower-order poly- @math factors.