Mean-Biased Processes for Balanced Allocations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Los, Dimitrios, Sauerwald, Thomas, Sylvester, John
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Los, Dimitrios
Sauerwald, Thomas
Sylvester, John
author_facet Los, Dimitrios
Sauerwald, Thomas
Sylvester, John
contents We introduce a new class of balanced allocation processes which bias towards underloaded bins (those with load below the mean load) either by skewing the probability by which a bin is chosen for an allocation (probability bias), or alternatively, by adding more balls to an underloaded bin (weight bias). A prototypical process satisfying the probability bias condition is Mean-Thinning: At each round, we sample one bin and if it is underloaded, we allocate one ball; otherwise, we allocate one ball to a second bin sample. Versions of this process have been in use since at least 1986. An example of a process, introduced by us, which satisfies the weight bias condition is Twinning: At each round, we only sample one bin. If the bin is underloaded, then we allocate two balls; otherwise, we allocate only one ball. Our main result is that for any process with a probability or weight bias, with high probability the gap between maximum and minimum load is logarithmic in the number of bins. This result holds for any number of allocated balls (heavily loaded case), covers many natural processes that relax the Two-Choice process, and we also prove it is tight for many such processes, including Mean-Thinning and Twinning. Our analysis employs a delicate interplay between linear, quadratic and exponential potential functions. It also hinges on a phenomenon we call "mean quantile stabilization", which holds in greater generality than our framework and may be of independent interest.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_05087
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mean-Biased Processes for Balanced Allocations
Los, Dimitrios
Sauerwald, Thomas
Sylvester, John
Probability
Discrete Mathematics
Data Structures and Algorithms
Combinatorics
68W20, 68W27, 68W40, 60C05
G.3; G.2.m; F.2.2
We introduce a new class of balanced allocation processes which bias towards underloaded bins (those with load below the mean load) either by skewing the probability by which a bin is chosen for an allocation (probability bias), or alternatively, by adding more balls to an underloaded bin (weight bias). A prototypical process satisfying the probability bias condition is Mean-Thinning: At each round, we sample one bin and if it is underloaded, we allocate one ball; otherwise, we allocate one ball to a second bin sample. Versions of this process have been in use since at least 1986. An example of a process, introduced by us, which satisfies the weight bias condition is Twinning: At each round, we only sample one bin. If the bin is underloaded, then we allocate two balls; otherwise, we allocate only one ball. Our main result is that for any process with a probability or weight bias, with high probability the gap between maximum and minimum load is logarithmic in the number of bins. This result holds for any number of allocated balls (heavily loaded case), covers many natural processes that relax the Two-Choice process, and we also prove it is tight for many such processes, including Mean-Thinning and Twinning. Our analysis employs a delicate interplay between linear, quadratic and exponential potential functions. It also hinges on a phenomenon we call "mean quantile stabilization", which holds in greater generality than our framework and may be of independent interest.
title Mean-Biased Processes for Balanced Allocations
topic Probability
Discrete Mathematics
Data Structures and Algorithms
Combinatorics
68W20, 68W27, 68W40, 60C05
G.3; G.2.m; F.2.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.05087