It has recently been observed that the permanent of a nonnegative square matrix, i.e., of a square matrix containing only nonnegative real entries, can very well be approximated by solving a certain Bethe free energy function minimization problem with the help of the sum-product algorithm. We call the resulting approximation of the permanent the Bethe permanent. In this paper, we give reasons why this approach to approximating the permanent works well. Namely, we show that the Bethe free energy function is convex and that the sum-product algorithm finds its minimum efficiently. We then discuss the fact that the permanent is lower bounded by the Bethe permanent, and we comment on potential upper bounds on the permanent based on the Bethe permanent. We also present a combinatorial characterization of the Bethe permanent in terms of permanents of so-called lifted versions of the matrix under consideration. Moreover, we comment on possibilities to modify the Bethe permanent so that it approximates the permanent even better, and we conclude the paper with some observations and conjectures about permanent-based pseudocodewords and permanent-based kernels.
Because computing the permanent is related to counting perfect matchings, the paper by Bayati and Nair @cite_47 on counting matchings in graphs with the help of the SPA is very relevant. Note that their setup is such that the perfect matching case can be seen as a limiting case (namely the zero-temperature limit) of the matching setup. However, for the perfect matching case (a case for which the authors of @cite_47 make no claims) the convergence proof of the SPA in @cite_47 is incomplete. Moreover, their matchings are weighted only inasmuch as the weight of a matching depends on the size of the matching. Consequently, because all perfect matchings have the same size, they all are assigned the same weight. (See also the related paper by Bayati, Gamarnik, Katz, Nair, and Tet ali @cite_24 , and an extension to counting perfect matchings in certain types of graph by Gamarnik and Katz @cite_89 .) For an SPA convergence analysis of a slightly generalized weighted matching setup, the interested reader is referred to a recent paper by Williams and Lau @cite_30 .
@cite_24 @cite_47 @cite_30 @cite_89
1991832118 1986705527 1999425090 1972778238
We consider the problem of computing the permanent of a 0,1n by n matrix. For a class of matrices corresponding to constant degree expanders we construct a deterministic polynomial time approximation algorithm to within a multiplicative factor ([email protected])^n, for arbitrary @e>0. This is an improvement over the best known approximation factor e^n obtained in Linial, Samorodnitsky and Wigderson (2000) [9], though the latter result was established for arbitrary non-negative matrices. Our results use a recently developed deterministic approximation algorithm for counting partial matchings of a graph (Bayati, Gamarnik, Katz, Nair and Tet ali (2007) [2]) and Jerrum-Vazirani method (Jerrum and Vazirani (1996) [8]) of approximating permanent by near perfect matchings. The random assignment problem asks for the minimum-cost perfect matching in the complete n × n bipartite graph Knn with i.i.d. edge weights, say uniform on [0, 1]. In a remarkable work by Aldous [Aldous, D. 2001. The ζ(2) limit in the random assignment problem. RSA18 381--418], the optimal cost was shown to converge to ζ(2) as n → ∞, as conjectured by Mezard and Parisi [Mezard, M., G. Parisi. 1987. On the solution of the random link matching problem. J. Phys.48 1451--1459] through the so-called cavity method. The latter also suggested a nonrigorous decentralized strategy for finding the optimum, which turned out to be an instance of the belief propagation (BP) heuristic discussed by Pearl [Pearl, J. 1988. Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems: Networks of Plausible Inference. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco]. In this paper we use the objective method to analyze the performance of BP as the size of the underlying graph becomes large. Specifically, we establish that the dynamic of BP on Knn converges in distribution as n → ∞ to an appropriately defined dynamic on the Poisson weighted infinite tree, and we then prove correlation decay for this limiting dynamic. As a consequence, we obtain that BP finds an asymptotically correct assignment in O(n2) time only. This contrasts with both the worst-case upper bound for convergence of BP derived by [Bayati, M., D. Shah, M. Sharma. 2008. Max-product for maximum weight matching: Convergence, correctness, and LP duality. IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory54(3) 1241--1251.] and the best-known computational cost of Θ(n3) achieved by Edmonds and Karp's algorithm [Edmonds, J., R. Karp. 1972. Theoretical improvements in algorithmic efficiency for network flow problems. J. ACM19 248--264]. Let G = G(A∪B,A×B), with |A| = |B| = n, be a weighted bipartite graph, and let d(·,·) be the cost function on the edges. Let w(M) denote the weight of a matching in G, and M* a minimum-cost perfect matching in G. We call a perfect matching M c-approximate, for c ≥ 1, if w(M) ≤ c · w(M*). We present three approximation algorithms for computing minimum-cost perfect matchings in G. First, we consider the case when d(·,·) is a metric. For any Δ > 0, we present an algorithm that, in O(n2+Δ log n log2(1 Δ)) time, computes a O(1 Δα)-approximate matching of G, where α = log3 2 ≈ 0.631. Next, we assume the existence of a dynamic data structure for answering approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) queries under d(··). Given two parameters e, d e) is the query and update time of an (e 2)-ANN data structure. Finally, we present an algorithm that works even if d(·,·) is not a metric but admits an ANN data structure for d(·,·). In particular, we present an algorithm that computes, in O(e---1n3 2τ (n, e) log4(n e) log Δ) time, a (1 + e)-approximate matching of A and B; here Δ is the ratio of the largest to the smallest-cost edge in G, and τ (n, e) is the query and update time of an (e c)-ANN data structure for some constant c > 1. We show that our results lead to faster matching algorithms for many geometric settings. Let G=(U, V, E) be a bipartite graph with |U|=|V|=n. The factor size of G, f, is the maximum number of edge disjoint perfect matchings in G. We characterize the complexity of counting the number of perfect matchings in classes of graphs parameterized by factor size. We describe the simple algorithm, which is an approximation algorithm for the permanent that is a natural simplification of the algorithm suggested by Broder (1986) and analyzed by Jerrum and Sinclair (1988a, b). Compared to the algorithm by Jerrum and Sinclair (1988a, b), the simple algorithm achieves a polynomial speed up in the running time to compute the permanent. A combinatorial lemma is used to prove that the simple algorithm runs in time nO(n f). Thus: (1) for all constants α>0, the simple algorithm runs in polynomial time for graphs with factor size at least αn; (2) for some constant c, the simple algorithm is the fastest known approximation for graphs with factor size at least c log n. (Compare with the approximation algorithms described in Karmarkar (1988).) We prove the following complementary hardness results. For functions f such that 3⩽f(n)⩽n−3, the exact counting problem for f(n)-regular bipartite graphs is #P-complete. For and e>0, for any function f such that 3⩽f(n)⩽n1−e, approximate counting for f(n)-regular bipartite graphs is as hard as approximate counting for all bipartite graphs. An announcement of these results appears in Dagum (1988). The random assignment problem is to choose a minimum-cost perfect matching in a complete n µ n bipartite graph, whose edge weights are chosen randomly from some distribution such as the exponential distribution with mean 1. In this case it is known that the expectation does not grow unboundedly with n, but approaches a limiting value c* between 1.51 and 2. The limit is conjectured to be c* = π 2 6, while a recent conjecture has it that for finite n, the expected cost is EA* = ⌆n i=11 I2. Given non-negative weights wS on the k-subsets S of a km-element set V, we consider the sum of the products wS1 â â â wSm over all partitions V = S1 âa â â â âaSm into pairwise disjoint k-subsets Si. When the weights wS are positive and within a constant factor of each other, fixed in advance, we present a simple polynomial-time algorithm to approximate the sum within a polynomial in m factor. In the process, we obtain higher-dimensional versions of the van der Waerden and Bregman-Minc bounds for permanents. We also discuss applications to counting of perfect and nearly perfect matchings in hypergraphs. We study random lifts of a graph G as defined in [1]. We prove a 0-1 law which states that for every graph G either almost every lift of G has a perfect matching, or almost none of its lifts has a perfect matching. We provide a precise description of this dichotomy. Roughly speaking, the a.s. existence of a perfect matching in the lift depends on the existence of a fractional perfect matching in G. The precise statement appears in Theorem 1. A theorem of A. Schrijver asserts that a d-regular bipartite graph on 2n vertices has at least @math perfect matchings. L. Gurvits gave an extension of Schrijver’s theorem for matchings of density p. In this paper we give a stronger version of Gurvits’s theorem in the case of vertex-transitive bipartite graphs. This stronger version in particular implies that for every positive integer k, there exists a positive constant c(k) such that if a d-regular vertex-transitive bipartite graph on 2n vertices contains a cycle of length at most k, then it has at least @math perfect matchings. Consider a network vulnerable to security attacks and equipped with defense mechanisms. How much is the loss in the provided security guarantees due to the selfish nature of attacks and defenses? The Price of Defense was recently introduced in [7] as a worst-case measure, over all associated Nash equilibria, of this loss. In the particular strategic game considered in [7], there are two classes of confronting randomized players on a graph G(V,E): v attackers, each choosing vertices and wishing to minimize the probability of being caught, and a single defender, who chooses edges and gains the expected number of attackers it catches. In this work, we continue the study of the Price of Defense. We obtain the following results: - The Price of Defense is at least |V| 2; this implies that the Perfect Matching Nash equilibria considered in [7] are optimal with respect to the Price of Defense, so that the lower bound is tight. - We define Defense-Optimal graphs as those admitting a Nash equilibrium that attains the (tight) lower bound of |V| 2. We obtain: ○ A graph is Defense-Optimal if and only if it has a Fractional Perfect Matching. Since graphs with a Fractional Perfect Matching are recognizable in polynomial time, the same holds for Defense-Optimal graphs. ○ We identify a very simple graph that is Defense-Optimal but has no Perfect Matching Nash equilibrium. - Inspired by the established connection between Nash equilibria and Fractional Perfect Matchings, we transfer a known bivaluedness result about Fractional Matchings to a certain class of Nash equilibria. So, the connection to Fractional Graph Theory may be the key to revealing the combinatorial structure of Nash equilibria for our network security game. We study matchings on sparse random graphs by means of the cavity method. We first show how the method reproduces several known results about maximum and perfect matchings in regular and Erd?s?R?nyi random graphs. Our main new result is the computation of the entropy, i.e.?the leading order of the logarithm of the number of solutions, of matchings with a given size. We derive both an algorithm to compute this entropy for an arbitrary graph with a girth that diverges in the large size limit, and an analytic result for the entropy in regular and Erd?s?R?nyi random graph ensembles. Friedland's Lower Matching Conjecture asserts that if @math is a @math --regular bipartite graph on @math vertices, and @math denotes the number of matchings of size @math , then @math where @math . When @math , this conjecture reduces to a theorem of Schrijver which says that a @math --regular bipartite graph on @math vertices has at least @math perfect matchings. L. Gurvits proved an asymptotic version of the Lower Matching Conjecture, namely he proved that @math In this paper, we prove the Lower Matching Conjecture. In fact, we will prove a slightly stronger statement which gives an extra @math factor compared to the conjecture if @math is separated away from @math and @math , and is tight up to a constant factor if @math is separated away from @math . We will also give a new proof of Gurvits's and Schrijver's theorems, and we extend these theorems to @math --biregular bipartite graphs. For arbitrary graphs G and H, a G-factor of H is a spanning subgraph of H composed of disjoint copies of G. G-factors are natural generalizations of l-factors (or perfect matchings), in which G replaces the complete graph on two vertices. Our results show that the perfect matching problem is essentially the only instance of the G-factor problem that is likely to admit a polynomial time bounded solution. Specifically, if G has any component with three or more vertices then the existence question for G-factors is NP-complete. (In all other cases the question can be resolved in polynomial time.) .br The notion of a G-factor is further generalized by replacing G by an arbitrary family of graphs. This generalization forms the foundation for an extension of the traditional theory of matching. This theory, whose details will be developed elsewhere, includes, in addition to further NP-completeness results, new polynomial algorithms and simple duality results. Some indication of the nature and scope of this theory are presented here. An approximate solution to the weighted-graph-matching problem is discussed for both undirected and directed graphs. The weighted-graph-matching problem is that of finding the optimum matching between two weighted graphs, which are graphs with weights at each arc. The proposed method uses an analytic instead of a combinatorial or iterative approach to the optimum matching problem. Using the eigendecompositions of the adjacency matrices (in the case of the undirected-graph-matching problem) or Hermitian matrices derived from the adjacency matrices (in the case of the directed-graph-matching problem), a matching close to the optimum can be found efficiently when the graphs are sufficiently close to each other. Simulation results are given to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. > Elastic graph matching has been proposed as a practical implementation of dynamic link matching, which is a neural network with dynamically evolving links between a reference model and an input image. Each node of the graph contains features that characterize the neighborhood of its location in the image. The elastic graph matching usually consists of two consecutive steps, namely a matching with a rigid grid, followed by a deformation of the grid, which is actually the elastic part. The deformation step is introduced in order to allow for some deformation, rotation, and scaling of the object to be matched. This method is applied here to the authentication of human faces where candidates claim an identity that is to be checked. The matching error as originally suggested is not powerful enough to provide satisfying results in this case. We introduce an automatic weighting of the nodes according to their significance. We also explore the significance of the elastic deformation for an application of face-based person authentication. We compare performance results obtained with and without the second matching step. Results show that the deformation step slightly increases the performance, but has lower influence than the weighting of the nodes. The best results are obtained with the combination of both aspects. The results provided by the proposed method compare favorably with two methods that require a prior geometric face normalization, namely the synergetic and eigenface approaches. We study the existence of perfect matchings in suitably chosen induced subgraphs of random biregular bipartite graphs. We prove a result similar to a classical theorem of Erdos and Renyi about perfect matchings in random bipartite graphs. We also present an application to commutative graphs, a class of graphs that are featured in additive number theory. We present a new generic sequential importance sampling algorithm, called stochastic enumeration (SE) for counting #P-complete problems, such as the number of satisfiability assignments and the number of perfect matchings (permanent). We show that SE presents a natural generalization of the classic one-step-look-ahead algorithm in the sense that it: Runs in parallel multiple trajectories instead of a single one; Employs a polynomial time decision making oracle, which can be viewed as an n-step-look-ahead algorithm, where n is the size of the problem. Our simulation studies indicate good performance of SE as compared with the well-known splitting and SampleSearch methods. An ontology matching method (or a matcher) aims at matching every entity (or concept) in one ontology to the most suitable entity (or entities) in another ontology. Usually it is almost impossible to find a perfect match in the second ontology for every entity in the first ontology, so a matcher generally returns a set of possible matches with some weights (uncertainty) attached to each pair of match. In order to improve a matching result, several matchers can be used and the matched results from these matchers are combined with suitable approaches. In this paper, we first propose two new matchers among three matchers we use. We then address the need of dealing with uncertainties in mapping by investigating how some uncertainty reasoning frameworks can be used to combine matching results. We apply both the Dempster Shafer theory of evidence (DS theory) and Possibility Theory to merge the results computed by different matchers. Our experimental results and comparisons with related work indicate that integrating these theories to deal with uncertain ontology matching is a promising way to improve the overall matching results. Chordal graphs are graphs with the property that each cycle of length greater than 3 has two non-consecutive vertices that are joined by an edge. An important subclass of chordal graphs are strongly chordal graphs (Farber, 1983). Chordal graphs appear for example in the design of acyclic data base schemes (, 1983). In this paper we study the computational complexity (both sequential and parallel) of the maximum matching problem for chordal and strongly chordal graphs. We show that there is a linear-time greedy algorithm for a maximum matching in a strongly chordal graph provided a strongly perfect elimination ordering is known. This algorithm can also be turned into a parallel algorithm. The technique used can also be extended to the perfect multidimensional matching for chordal and strongly chordal graphs yielding the first polynomial time algorithms for these classes of graphs (the multidimensional matching is NP-complete in general). We show that the bipartite perfect matching problem is in quasi- NC2. That is, it has uniform circuits of quasi-polynomial size nO(logn), and O(log2 n) depth. Previously, only an exponential upper bound was known on the size of such circuits with poly-logarithmic depth. We obtain our result by an almost complete derandomization of the famous Isolation Lemma when applied to yield an efficient randomized parallel algorithm for the bipartite perfect matching problem. In this paper we address the minimum cost perfect matching problem with conflict pair constraints (MCPMPC). Given an undirected graph G with a cost associated with each edge and a conflict set of pairs of edges, the MCPMPC is to find a perfect matching with the lowest total cost such that no more than one edge is selected from each pair in the conflict set. MCPMPC is known to be strongly NP-hard. We present additional complexity results and identify new polynomially solvable cases for the general MCPMPC. Several heuristic algorithms and lower bounding schemes are presented. The proposed algorithms are tested on randomly generated instances. Encouraging experimental results are also reported.