We present improved results for approximating Maximum Independent Set ( @math ) in the standard LOCAL and CONGEST models of distributed computing. Let @math and @math be the number of nodes and maximum degree in the input graph, respectively. Bar- [PODC 2017] showed that there is an algorithm in the CONGEST model that finds a @math -approximation to @math in @math rounds, where @math is the running time for finding a independent set, and @math is the maximum weight of a node in the network. Whether their algorithm is randomized or deterministic depends on the @math algorithm that they use as a black-box. Our results: (1) A deterministic @math rounds algorithm for @math -approximation to @math in the CONGEST model. (2) A randomized @math rounds algorithm that finds, with high probability, an @math -approximation to @math in the CONGEST model. (3) An @math lower bound for any randomized algorithm that finds an independent set of size @math that succeeds with probability at least @math , even for the LOCAL model. This hardness result applies for graphs of maximum degree @math . One might wonder whether the same hardness result applies for low degree graphs. We rule out this possibility with our next result. (4) An @math rounds algorithm that finds an independent set of size @math in graphs with maximum degree @math , with high probability. Due to a lower bound of @math that was given by Kuhn, Moscibroda and Wattenhofer [JACM, 2016] on the number of rounds for finding a maximal independent set ( @math ) in the LOCAL model, even for randomized algorithms, our second result implies that finding an @math -approximation to @math is strictly easier than @math .
Recently, @cite_36 , showed that there is an algorithm for the LOCAL model that finds a @math -approximation to @math in @math rounds, for a constant @math . The results in @cite_13 @cite_17 give a lower bound of @math rounds for any deterministic algorithm returning an independent set of size at least @math on a cycle. Furthermore, @cite_47 provide a deterministic @math algorithm, and a randomized @math rounds algorithm, for @math -approximations in planar graphs.
@cite_36 @cite_47 @cite_13 @cite_17
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This paper is centered on the complexity of graph problems in the well-studied LOCAL model of distributed computing, introduced by Linial [FOCS '87]. It is widely known that for many of the classic distributed graph problems (including maximal independent set (MIS) and (Δ+1)-vertex coloring), the randomized complexity is at most polylogarithmic in the size n of the network, while the best deterministic complexity is typically 2O(√logn). Understanding and potentially narrowing down this exponential gap is considered to be one of the central long-standing open questions in the area of distributed graph algorithms. We investigate the problem by introducing a complexity-theoretic framework that allows us to shed some light on the role of randomness in the LOCAL model. We define the SLOCAL model as a sequential version of the LOCAL model. Our framework allows us to prove completeness results with respect to the class of problems which can be solved efficiently in the SLOCAL model, implying that if any of the complete problems can be solved deterministically in logn rounds in the LOCAL model, we can deterministically solve all efficient SLOCAL-problems (including MIS and (Δ+1)-coloring) in logn rounds in the LOCAL model. Perhaps most surprisingly, we show that a rather rudimentary looking graph coloring problem is complete in the above sense: Color the nodes of a graph with colors red and blue such that each node of sufficiently large polylogarithmic degree has at least one neighbor of each color. The problem admits a trivial zero-round randomized solution. The result can be viewed as showing that the only obstacle to getting efficient determinstic algorithms in the LOCAL model is an efficient algorithm to approximately round fractional values into integer values. In addition, our formal framework also allows us to develop polylogarithmic-time randomized distributed algorithms in a simpler way. As a result, we provide a polylog-time distributed approximation scheme for arbitrary distributed covering and packing integer linear programs. We give deterministic distributed algorithms that given i¾?> 0 find in a planar graph G, (1±i¾?)-approximations of a maximum independent set, a maximum matching, and a minimum dominating set. The algorithms run in O(log*|G|) rounds. In addition, we prove that no faster deterministic approximation is possible and show that if randomization is allowed it is possible to beat the lower bound for deterministic algorithms. In this paper we extend the lower bound technique by Linial for local coloring and maximal independent sets. We show that constant approximations to maximum independent sets on a ring require at least log-star time. More generally, the product of approximation quality and running time cannot be less than log-star. Using a generalized ring topology, we gain identical lower bounds for approximations to minimum dominating sets. Since our generalized ring topology is contained in a number of geometric graphs such as the unit disk graph, our bounds directly apply as lower bounds for quite a few algorithmic problems in wireless networking. Having in mind these and other results about local approximations of maximum independent sets and minimum dominating sets, one might think that the former are always at least as difficult to obtain as the latter. Conversely, we show that graphs exist, where a maximum independent set can be determined without any communication, while finding even an approximation to a minimum dominating set is as hard as in general graphs.