Computing shortest paths is one of the central problems in the theory of distributed computing. For the last few years, substantial progress has been made on the approximate single source shortest paths problem, culminating in an algorithm of Henzinger, Krinninger, and Nanongkai [STOC’16] which deterministically computes (1+o(1))-approximate shortest paths in O(D+√n) time, where D is the hop-diameter of the graph. Up to logarithmic factors, this time complexity is optimal, matching the lower bound of Elkin [STOC’04]. The question of exact shortest paths however saw no algorithmic progress for decades, until the recent breakthrough of Elkin [STOC’17], which established a sublinear-time algorithm for exact single source shortest paths on undirected graphs. Shortly after, [FOCS’17] provided improved algorithms for exact all pairs shortest paths problem on directed graphs. In this paper, we provide an alternative single-source shortest path algorithm with complexity O(n3 4D1 4). For polylogarithmic D, this improves on Elkin’s O(n5 6) bound and gets closer to the Ω(n1 2) lower bound of Elkin [STOC’04]. For larger values of D, we present an improved variant of our algorithm which achieves complexity O(max n3 4+o(1) , n3 4D1 6 + D ), and thus compares favorably with Elkin’s bound of O(max n5 6, n2 3D1 3 + D ) in essentially the entire range of parameters. This algorithm provides also a qualitative improvement, because it works for the more challenging case of directed graph (i.e., graphs where the two directions of an edge can have different weights), constituting the first sublinear-time algorithm for directed graphs. Our algorithm also extends to the case of exact r-source shortest paths, in which we provide the fastest algorithm for moderately small r and D, improving on those of
In this paper, we present algorithms that improve on this state of the art both quantitatively and qualitatively for integer-weighted graphs. We will soon discuss the quantitative aspect, i.e., the improvements in the bounds. The qualitative aspect is the fact that our algorithms extend to networks with asymmetric weights, i.e., when the two directions of an edge can have different weights. Although this asymmetric case is relevant for practical networks, it has gained a far more important motivation recently even when working on graphs with symmetric weights, due to the introduction of the @cite_17 to distributed computing. The scaling framework massages the weights in a way that simplifies the problem considerably, modulo the potential of making the weights asymmetric. We will discuss this framework in the next section.
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We present a method for solving the shortest transshipmen problem - also known as uncapacitated minimum cost flow - up to a multiplicative error of @math in undirected graphs with polynomially bounded integer edge weights using a tailored gradient descent algorithm. An important special case of the transshipment problem is the single-source shortest paths (SSSP) problem. Our gradient descent algorithm takes @math iterations, and in each iteration it needs to solve the transshipment problem up to a multiplicative error of @math , where @math is the number of nodes. In particular, this allows us to perform a single iteration by computing a solution on a sparse spanner of logarithmic stretch. As a consequence, we improve prior work by obtaining the following results: (1) Broadcast congest model: @math -approximate SSSP using @math rounds, where @math is the (hop) diameter of the network. (2) Broadcast congested clique model: @math -approximate transshipment and SSSP using @math rounds. (3) Multipass streaming model: @math -approximate transshipment and SSSP using @math space and @math passes. The previously fastest algorithms for these models leverage sparse hop sets. We bypass the hop set construction; computing a spanner is sufficient with our method. The above bounds assume non-negative integer edge weights that are polynomially bounded in @math ; for general non-negative weights, running times scale with the logarithm of the maximum ratio between non-zero weights. In case of asymmetric costs, running times scale with the maximum ratio between the costs of both directions over all edges. We propose a scheme to introduce directionality in the random walker algorithm for image segmentation. In particular, we extend the optimization framework of this algorithm to combinatorial graphs with directed edges. Our scheme is interactive and requires the user to label a few pixels that are representative of a foreground object and of the background. These labeled pixels are used to learn intensity models for the object and the background, which allow us to automatically set the weights of the directed edges. These weights are chosen so that they bias the direction of the object boundary gradients to flow from regions that agree well with the learned object intensity model to regions that do not agree well. We use these weights to define an energy function that associates asymmetric quadratic penalties with the edges in the graph. We show that this energy function is convex, hence it has a unique minimizer. We propose a provably convergent iterative algorithm for minimizing this energy function. We also describe the construction of an equivalent electrical network with diodes and resistors that solves the same segmentation problem as our framework. Finally, our experiments on a database of 69 images show that the use of directional information does improve the segmenting power of the random Walker algorithm. We study computing all-pairs shortest paths (APSP) on distributed networks (the CONGEST model). The goal is for every node in the (weighted) network to know the distance from every other node using communication. The problem admits (1+o(1))-approximation &#xd5;(n)-time algorithms [2], [3], which are matched with &#x3a9;(n)-time lower bounds [4], [5], , &#xd5; and &#x3a9; hide polylogarithmic factors. Note that the lower bounds also hold even in the unweighted case and in the weighted case with polynomial approximation ratios. . No &#x3a9;(n) lower bound or o(m) upper bound were known for exact computation.In this paper, we present an &#xd5;(n^ 5 4 )-time randomized (Las Vegas) algorithm for exact weighted APSP; this provides the first improvement over the naive O(m)-time algorithm when the network is not so sparse. Our result also holds for the case where edge weights are asymmetric (a.k.a. the directed case where communication is bidirectional). Our techniques also yield an &#xd5;(n^ 3 4 k^ 1 2 +n)-time algorithm for the k-source shortest paths problem where we want every node to know distances from k sources; this improves Elkins recent bound [6] when k= &#x3a9;(n^ 1 4 ).We achieve the above results by developing distributed algorithms on top of the classic scaling technique, which we believe is used for the first time for distributed shortest paths computation. One new algorithm which might be of an independent interest is for the reversed r-sink shortest paths problem, where we want every of r sinks to know its distances from all other nodes, given that every node already knows its distance to every sink. We show an &#xd5;(n&#x221a; r )-time algorithm for this problem. Another new algorithm is called short range extension, where we show that in &#xd5;(n&#x221a; h ) time the knowledge about distances can be extended for additional h hops. For this, we use weight rounding to introduce small additive errors which can be later fixed. We introduce and study the concept of an asymmetric swap-equilibrium for network creation games. A graph where every edge is owned by one of its endpoints is called to be in asymmetric swap-equilibrium, if no vertex v can delete its own edge v,w and add a new edge v,w′ and thereby decrease the sum of distances from v to all other vertices. This equilibrium concept generalizes and unifies some of the previous equilibrium concepts for network creation games. While the structure and the quality of equilibrium networks is still not fully understood, we provide further (partial) insights for this open problem. As the two main results, we show that (1) every asymmetric swap-equilibrium has at most one (non-trivial) 2-edge-connected component, and (2) we show a logarithmic upper bound on the diameter of an asymmetric swap-equilibrium for the case that the minimum degree of the unique 2-edge-connected component is at least ne, for @math . Due to the generalizing property of asymmetric swap equilibria, these results hold for several equilibrium concepts that were previously studied. Along the way, we introduce a node-weighted version of the network creation games, which is of independent interest for further studies of network creation games. In the distributed all-pairs shortest paths problem (APSP), every node in the weighted undirected distributed network (the CONGEST model) needs to know the distance from every other node using least number of communication rounds (typically called time complexity ). The problem admits @math -approximation @math -time algorithm and a nearly-tight @math lower bound [Nanongkai, STOC'14; Lenzen and Patt-Shamir PODC'15] @math , @math and @math hide polylogarithmic factors. Note that the lower bounds also hold even in the unweighted case and in the weighted case with polynomial approximation ratios LenzenP_podc13,HolzerW12,PelegRT12,Nanongkai-STOC14 . . For the exact case, Elkin [STOC'17] presented an @math time bound, which was later improved to @math [Huang, Nanongkai, Saranurak FOCS'17]. It was shown that any super-linear lower bound (in @math ) requires a new technique [Censor-Hillel, Khoury, Paz, DISC'17], but otherwise it remained widely open whether there exists a @math -time algorithm for the exact case, which would match the best possible approximation algorithm. This paper resolves this question positively: we present a randomized (Las Vegas) @math -time algorithm, matching the lower bound up to polylogarithmic factors. Like the previous @math bound, our result works for directed graphs with zero (and even negative) edge weights. In addition to the improved running time, our algorithm works in a more general setting than that required by the previous @math bound; in our setting (i) the communication is only along edge directions (as opposed to bidirectional), and (ii) edge weights are arbitrary (as opposed to integers in 1, 2, ... poly(n) ). ... In metric asymmetric traveling salesperson problems the input is a complete directed graph in which edge weights satisfy the triangle inequality, and one is required to find a minimum weight walk that visits all vertices. In the asymmetric traveling salesperson problem (ATSP) the walk is required to be cyclic. In asymmetric traveling salesperson path problem (ATSPP), the walk is required to start at vertex sand to end at vertex t. We improve the approximation ratio for ATSP from @math to @math . This improvement is based on a modification of the algorithm of [JACM 05] that achieved the previous best approximation ratio. We also show a reduction from ATSPP to ATSP that loses a factor of at most 2 + i¾?in the approximation ratio, where i¾?> 0 can be chosen to be arbitrarily small, and the running time of the reduction is polynomial for every fixed i¾?. Combined with our improved approximation ratio for ATSP, this establishes an approximation ratio of @math for ATSPP, improving over the previous best ratio of 4log e ni¾? 2.76log 2 nof Chekuri and Pal [Approx 2006]. We prove the first non-trivial performance ratios strictly above 0.5 for weighted versions of the oblivious matching problem. Even for the unweighted version, since Aronson, Dyer, Frieze, and Suen first proved a non-trivial ratio above 0.5 in the mid-1990s, during the next twenty years several attempts have been made to improve this ratio, until Chan, Chen, Wu and Zhao successfully achieved a significant ratio of 0.523 very recently (SODA 2014). To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first in the literature that considers the node-weighted and edge-weighted versions of the problem in arbitrary graphs (as opposed to bipartite graphs). (1) For arbitrary node weights, we prove that a weighted version of the Ranking algorithm has ratio strictly above 0.5. We have discovered a new structural property of the ranking algorithm: if a node has two unmatched neighbors at the end of algorithm, then it will still be matched even when its rank is demoted to the bottom. This property allows us to form LP constraints for both the node-weighted and the unweighted oblivious matching problems. As a result, we prove that the ratio for the node-weighted case is at least 0.501512. Interestingly via the structural property, we can also improve slightly the ratio for the unweighted case to 0.526823 (from the previous best 0.523166 in SODA 2014). (2) For a bounded number of distinct edge weights, we show that ratio strictly above 0.5 can be achieved by partitioning edges carefully according to the weights, and running the (unweighted) Ranking algorithm on each part. Our analysis is based on a new primal-dual framework known as , in which dual feasibility is bypassed. Instead, only dual constraints corresponding to edges in an optimal matching are satisfied. Using this framework we also design and analyze an algorithm for the edge-weighted online bipartite matching problem with free disposal. We prove that for the case of bounded online degrees, the ratio is strictly above 0.5. We present two new algorithms for solving the All Pairs Shortest Paths (APSP) problem for weighted directed graphs. Both algorithms use fast matrix multiplication algorithms.The first algorithm solves the APSP problem for weighted directed graphs in which the edge weights are integers of small absolute value in O(n2+μ) time, where μ satisfies the equation ω(1, μ, 1) = 1 + 2μ and ω(1, μ, 1) is the exponent of the multiplication of an n × nμ matrix by an nμ × n matrix. Currently, the best available bounds on ω(1, μ, 1), obtained by Coppersmith, imply that μ 0 is an error parameter and W is the largest edge weight in the graph, after the edge weights are scaled so that the smallest non-zero edge weight in the graph is 1. It returns estimates of all the distances in the graph with a stretch of at most 1 + e. Corresponding paths can also be found efficiently. The quest for a linear-time single-source shortest-path (SSSP) algorithm on directed graphs with positive edge weights is an ongoing hot research topic. While Thorup recently found an O(n + m) time RAM algorithm for undirected graphs with n nodes, m edges and integer edge weights in 0,…,2w - 1 where w denotes the word length, the currently best time bound for directed sparse graphs on a RAM is O(n + m · log log n). In the present paper we study the average-case complexity of SSSP. We give a simple algorithm for arbitrary directed graphs with random edge weights uniformly distributed in [0, 1] and show that it needs linear time O(n + m) with high probability. In the k-server problem, one must choose how k mobile servers will serve each of a sequence of requests, making decisions in an online manner. An optimal deterministic online strategy is exhibited when the requests fall on the real line. For the weighted-cache problem, in which the cost of moving to x from any other point is @math , the weight of x, an optimal deterministic algorithm is also provided. The nonexistence of competitive algorithms for the asymmetric two-server problem and of memoryless algorithms for the weighted-cache problem is proved. A fast algorithm for oflline computing of an optimal schedule is given, and it is shown that finding an optimal offline schedule is at least as hard as the assignment problem. We devise new algorithms for the single-source shortest paths (SSSP) problem with non-negative edge weights in the CONGEST model of distributed computing. While close-to-optimal solutions, in terms of the number of rounds spent by the algorithm, have recently been developed for computing SSSP approximately, the fastest known exact algorithms are still far away from matching the lower bound of Ω (n + D) rounds by Peleg and Rubinovich [SIAM Journal on Computing 2000], where n is the number of nodes in the network and D is its diameter. The state of the art is Elkin's randomized algorithm [STOC 2017] that performs O(n^2 3 D^1 3 + n^5 6) rounds. We significantly improve upon this upper bound with our two new randomized algorithms for polynomially bounded integer edge weights, the first performing O(√n D) rounds and the second performing O(√n D^1 4 + n^3 5 + D) rounds. Our bounds also compare favorably to the independent result by Ghaffari and Li [STOC 2018]. As side results, we obtain a (1+e)-approximation O((√n D^1 4+D) e)-round algorithm for directed SSSP and a new work depth trade-off for exact SSSP on directed graphs in the PRAM model. This work considers the robustness of uncertain consensus networks. The stability properties of consensus networks with negative edge weights are also examined. We show that the network is unstable if either the negative weight edges form a cut in the graph or any single negative edge weight has a magnitude less than the inverse of the effective resistance between the two incident nodes. These results are then used to analyze the robustness of the consensus network with additive but bounded perturbations of the edge weights. It is shown that the small-gain condition is related again to cuts in the graph and effective resistance. For the single edge case, the small-gain condition is also shown to be exact. The results are then extended to consensus networks with nonlinear couplings. Problems related to computing optimal paths have been abundant in computer science since its emergence as a field. Yet for a large number of such problems we still do not know whether the state-of-the-art algorithms are the best possible. A notable example of this phenomenon is the all pairs shortest paths problem in a directed graph with real edge weights. The best algorithm (modulo small polylogarithmic improvements) for this problem runs in cubic time, a running time known since the 1960s (by Floyd and Warshall). Our grasp of many such fundamental algorithmic questions is far from optimal, and the major goal of this thesis is to bring some new insights into efficiently solving path problems in graphs. We focus on several path problems optimizing different measures: shortest paths, maximum bottleneck paths, minimum nondecreasing paths, and various extensions. For the all-pairs versions of these path problems we use an algebraic approach. We obtain improved algorithms using reductions to fast matrix multiplication. For maximum bottleneck paths and minimum nondecreasing paths we are the first to break the cubic barrier, obtaining truly subcubic strongly polynomial algorithms. We also consider a nonalgebraic, combinatorial approach, which is considered more efficient in practice compared to methods based on fast matrix multiplication. We present a combinatorial data structure that maintains a matrix so that products with given sparse vectors can be computed efficiently. This allows us to obtain good running times for path problems in unweighted sparse graphs. This thesis also gives algorithms for some single source path problems. We obtain the first linear time algorithm for the single source minimum nondecreasing paths problem. We give some extensions to this, including an algorithm to find cheapest minimum nondecreasing paths. Besides finding optimal paths, we consider the related problem of finding optimal cycles. In particular, we focus on the problem of finding in a weighted graph a triangle of maximum weight sum. We obtain the first truly subcubic algorithm for finding a maximum weight triangle in a node-weighted graph. We also present algorithms for the edge-weighted case. These algorithms immediately imply good algorithms for finding maximum weight k-cliques, or arbitrary maximum weight pattern subgraphs of fixed size. We examine several online matching problems, with applications to Internet advertising reservation systems. Consider an edge-weighted bipartite graph G, with partite sets L, R. We develop an 8-competitive algorithm for the following secretary problem: Initially given R, and the size of L, the algorithm receives the vertices of L sequentially, in a random order. When a vertex l L is seen, all edges incident to l are revealed, together with their weights. The algorithm must immediately either match l to an available vertex of R, or decide that l will remain unmatched. Dimitrov and Plaxton show a 16-competitive algorithm for the transversal matroid secretary problem, which is the special case with weights on vertices, not edges. (Equivalently, one may assume that for each l L, the weights on all edges incident to l are identical.) We use a similar algorithm, but simplify and improve the analysis to obtain a better competitive ratio for the more general problem. Perhaps of more interest is the fact that our analysis is easily extended to obtain competitive algorithms for similar problems, such as to find disjoint sets of edges in hypergraphs where edges arrive online. We also introduce secretary problems with adversarially chosen groups. Finally, we give a 2e-competitive algorithm for the secretary problem on graphic matroids, where, with edges appearing online, the goal is to find a maximum-weight acyclic subgraph of a given graph. Different from the existing symmetric social relation graph, we first utilize a new asymmetric social weighted graph to study the problem of resource allocation for Device-to-Device (D2D) wireless social networks. We propose a social-aware cluster-based game theoretical scheme for resource allocation in which clusters are formatted based on the new defined weighted social interference degree and the physical interference graph. In the proposed cluster-based game scheme, we shrink action spaces of players (clusters) through a determined channel allocation rule. Simulation results show that the proposed cluster action selection algorithm has a higher convergence speed and a better social network interference performance. Conventionally used exponential random graphs cannot directly model weighted networks as the underlying probability space consists of simple graphs only. Since many substantively important networks are weighted, this limitation is especially problematic. We extend the existing exponential framework by proposing a generic common distribution for the edge weights. Minimal assumptions are placed on the distribution, that is, it is non-degenerate and supported on the unit interval. By doing so, we recognize the essential properties associated with near-degeneracy and universality in edge-weighted exponential random graphs. A weighted digraph is balanced if, for each node, the sum of the weights of the edges outgoing from that node is equal to the sum of the weights of the edges incoming to that node. Weight-balanced digraphs play a key role in a number of applications, including cooperative control, distributed optimization, and distributed averaging problems. We address the weight-balance problem for a distributed system whose components (nodes) can exchange information via interconnection links (edges) that form an arbitrary, possibly directed, communication topology (digraph). We develop two iterative algorithms, a centralized one and a distributed one, both of which can be used to reach weight-balance, as long as the underlying communication topology forms a strongly connected digraph (or is a collection of strongly connected digraphs). The centralized algorithm is shown to reach weight-balance after a finite number of iterations (bounded by the number of nodes in the graph). The distributed algorithm operates by having each node adapt the weights on its outgoing edges and is shown to asymptotically lead to weight-balance. We also analyze the rate of convergence of the proposed distributed algorithm and obtain a (graph-dependent) worst-case bound for it. Finally, we provide examples to illustrate the operation, performance, and potential advantages of the proposed algorithms. The Held-Karp heuristic for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) has in practice provided near-optimal lower bounds on the cost of solutions to the TSP. We analyze the structure of Held-Karp solutions in order to shed light on their quality. In the symmetric case with triangle inequality, we show that a class of instances has planar solutions. We also show that Held-Karp solutions have a certain monotonicity property. This leads to an alternate proof of a result of Wolsey, which shows that the value of Held-Karp heuristic is always at least 2 3 OPT, where OPT is the cost of the optimum TSP tour. Additionally, we show that the value of the Held-Karp heuristic is equal to that of the linear relaxation of the biconnected-graph problem when edge costs are non-negative. In the asymmetric case with triangle inequality, we show that there are many equivalent definitions of the Held-Karp heuristic, which include finding optimally weighted 1-arborescences, 1-antiarborescences, asymmetric 1-trees, and assignment problems. We prove that monotonicity holds in the asymmetric case as well. These theorems imply that the value of the Held-Karp heuristic is no less than OPT and no less than the value of the Balas-Christofides heuristic for the asymmetric TSP. For the 1,2-TSP, we show that the Held-Karp heuristic cannot do any better than 9 10 OPT, even as the number of nodes tends to infinity. Portions of this thesis are joint work with David Shmoys. We say an algorithm on n by n matrices with entries in [-M, M] (or n-node graphs with edge weights from [-M, M]) is truly sub cubic if it runs in O(n^ 3- ( M)) time for some > 0. We define a notion of sub cubic reducibility, and show that many important problems on graphs and matrices solvable in O(n^3) time are equivalent under sub cubic reductions. Namely, the following weighted problems either all have truly sub cubic algorithms, or none of them do: - The all-pairs shortest paths problem (APSP). - Detecting if a weighted graph has a triangle of negative total edge weight. - Listing up to n^ 2.99 negative triangles in an edge-weighted graph. - Finding a minimum weight cycle in a graph of non-negative edge weights. - The replacement paths problem in an edge-weighted digraph. - Finding the second shortest simple path between two nodes in an edge-weighted digraph. - Checking whether a given matrix defines a metric. - Verifying the correctness of a matrix product over the ( , +)-semiring. Therefore, if APSP cannot be solved in n^ 3- time for any > 0, then many other problems also need essentially cubic time. In fact we show generic equivalences between matrix products over a large class of algebraic structures used in optimization, verifying a matrix product over the same structure, and corresponding triangle detection problems over the structure. These equivalences simplify prior work on sub cubic algorithms for all-pairs path problems, since it now suffices to give appropriate sub cubic triangle detection algorithms. Other consequences of our work are new combinatorial approaches to Boolean matrix multiplication over the (OR, AND)-semiring (abbreviated as BMM). We show that practical advances in triangle detection would imply practical BMM algorithms, among other results. Building on our techniques, we give two new BMM algorithms: a derandomization of the recent combinatorial BMM algorithm of Bansal and Williams (FOCS'09), and an improved quantum algorithm for BMM. We study the directed minimum latency problem: given an n-vertex asymmetric metric (V,d) with a root vertex ri¾? V, find a spanning path originating at rthat minimizes the sum of latencies at all vertices (the latency of any vertex vi¾? Vis the distance from rto valong the path). This problem has been well-studied on symmetric metrics, and the best known approximation guarantee is 3.59 [3]. For any @math O( n^ ^3 ) @math =O( n )$, which implies (for any fixed i¾?> 0) a polynomial time O(n1 2 + i¾?)-approximation algorithm for directed latency. In the special case of metrics induced by shortest-paths in an unweighted directed graph, we give an O(log2n) approximation algorithm. As a consequence, we also obtain an O(log2n) approximation algorithm for minimizing the weighted completion time in no-wait permutation flowshop scheduling. We note that even in unweighted directed graphs, the directed latency problem is at least as hard to approximate as the well-studied asymmetric traveling salesman problem, for which the best known approximation guarantee is O(logn).