On modeling NP-Complete problems as polynomial-sized linear programs: Escaping/Side-stepping the "barriers"

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Diaby, Moustapha, Karwan, Mark, Sun, Lei
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Diaby, Moustapha
Karwan, Mark
Sun, Lei
author_facet Diaby, Moustapha
Karwan, Mark
Sun, Lei
contents In view of the extended formulations (EFs) developments (e.g. "Fiorini, S., S. Massar, S. Pokutta, H.R. Tiwary, and R. de Wolf [2015]. Exponential Lower Bounds for Polytopes in Combinatorial Optimization. Journal of the ACM 62:2"), we focus in this paper on the question of whether it is possible to model an NP-Complete problem as a polynomial-sized linear program. For the sake of simplicity of exposition, the discussions are focused on the TSP. We show that a finding that there exists no polynomial-sized extended formulation of "the TSP polytope" does not (necessarily) imply that it is "impossible" for a polynomial-sized linear program to solve the TSP optimization problem. We show that under appropriate conditions the TSP optimization problem can be solved without recourse to the traditional city-to-city ("travel leg") variables, thereby side-stepping/"escaping from" "the TSP polytope" and hence, the barriers. Some illustrative examples are discussed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_07716
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On modeling NP-Complete problems as polynomial-sized linear programs: Escaping/Side-stepping the "barriers"
Diaby, Moustapha
Karwan, Mark
Sun, Lei
Computational Complexity
Data Structures and Algorithms
Optimization and Control
90-08, 90-10
F.2.2; G.2
In view of the extended formulations (EFs) developments (e.g. "Fiorini, S., S. Massar, S. Pokutta, H.R. Tiwary, and R. de Wolf [2015]. Exponential Lower Bounds for Polytopes in Combinatorial Optimization. Journal of the ACM 62:2"), we focus in this paper on the question of whether it is possible to model an NP-Complete problem as a polynomial-sized linear program. For the sake of simplicity of exposition, the discussions are focused on the TSP. We show that a finding that there exists no polynomial-sized extended formulation of "the TSP polytope" does not (necessarily) imply that it is "impossible" for a polynomial-sized linear program to solve the TSP optimization problem. We show that under appropriate conditions the TSP optimization problem can be solved without recourse to the traditional city-to-city ("travel leg") variables, thereby side-stepping/"escaping from" "the TSP polytope" and hence, the barriers. Some illustrative examples are discussed.
title On modeling NP-Complete problems as polynomial-sized linear programs: Escaping/Side-stepping the "barriers"
topic Computational Complexity
Data Structures and Algorithms
Optimization and Control
90-08, 90-10
F.2.2; G.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.07716