Directed Capacity-Preserving Subgraphs: Hardness and Exact Polynomial Algorithms

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chimani, Markus, Ilsen, Max
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912230042238976
author Chimani, Markus
Ilsen, Max
author_facet Chimani, Markus
Ilsen, Max
contents We introduce and discuss the Minimum Capacity-Preserving Subgraph (MCPS) problem: given a directed graph and a retention ratio $α\in (0,1)$, find the smallest subgraph that, for each pair of vertices $(u,v)$, preserves at least a fraction $α$ of a maximum $u$-$v$-flow's value. This problem originates from the practical setting of reducing the power consumption in a computer network: it models turning off as many links as possible while retaining the ability to transmit at least $α$ times the traffic compared to the original network. First we prove that MCPS is NP-hard already on a restricted set of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with unit edge capacities. Our reduction also shows that a closely related problem (which only considers the arguably most complicated core of the problem in the objective function) is NP-hard to approximate within a sublogarithmic factor already on DAGs. In terms of positive results, we present two algorithms that solve MCPS optimally on directed series-parallel graphs (DSPs): a simple linear-time algorithm for the special case of unit edge capacities and a cubic-time dynamic programming algorithm for the general case of non-uniform edge capacities. Further, we introduce the family of laminar series-parallel graphs (LSPs), a generalization of DSPs that also includes cyclic and very dense graphs. Their properties allow us to solve MCPS on LSPs by employing our DSP-algorithms as subroutines. In addition, we give a separate quadratic-time algorithm for MCPS on LSPs with unit edge capacities that also yields straightforward quadratic time algorithms for several related problems such as Minimum Equivalent Digraph and Directed Hamiltonian Cycle on LSPs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2303_17274
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Directed Capacity-Preserving Subgraphs: Hardness and Exact Polynomial Algorithms
Chimani, Markus
Ilsen, Max
Data Structures and Algorithms
Discrete Mathematics
05C21 (Primary) 68R10, 05C20 (Secondary)
G.2.2; F.2.2
We introduce and discuss the Minimum Capacity-Preserving Subgraph (MCPS) problem: given a directed graph and a retention ratio $α\in (0,1)$, find the smallest subgraph that, for each pair of vertices $(u,v)$, preserves at least a fraction $α$ of a maximum $u$-$v$-flow's value. This problem originates from the practical setting of reducing the power consumption in a computer network: it models turning off as many links as possible while retaining the ability to transmit at least $α$ times the traffic compared to the original network. First we prove that MCPS is NP-hard already on a restricted set of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with unit edge capacities. Our reduction also shows that a closely related problem (which only considers the arguably most complicated core of the problem in the objective function) is NP-hard to approximate within a sublogarithmic factor already on DAGs. In terms of positive results, we present two algorithms that solve MCPS optimally on directed series-parallel graphs (DSPs): a simple linear-time algorithm for the special case of unit edge capacities and a cubic-time dynamic programming algorithm for the general case of non-uniform edge capacities. Further, we introduce the family of laminar series-parallel graphs (LSPs), a generalization of DSPs that also includes cyclic and very dense graphs. Their properties allow us to solve MCPS on LSPs by employing our DSP-algorithms as subroutines. In addition, we give a separate quadratic-time algorithm for MCPS on LSPs with unit edge capacities that also yields straightforward quadratic time algorithms for several related problems such as Minimum Equivalent Digraph and Directed Hamiltonian Cycle on LSPs.
title Directed Capacity-Preserving Subgraphs: Hardness and Exact Polynomial Algorithms
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
Discrete Mathematics
05C21 (Primary) 68R10, 05C20 (Secondary)
G.2.2; F.2.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.17274