A Primal-Dual Extension of the Goemans--Williamson Algorithm for the Weighted Fractional Cut-Covering Problem

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Main Authors: Proença, Nathan Benedetto, Silva, Marcel K. de Carli, Sato, Cristiane M., Tunçel, Levent
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Proença, Nathan Benedetto
Silva, Marcel K. de Carli
Sato, Cristiane M.
Tunçel, Levent
author_facet Proença, Nathan Benedetto
Silva, Marcel K. de Carli
Sato, Cristiane M.
Tunçel, Levent
contents We study a weighted generalization of the fractional cut-covering problem, which we relate to the maximum cut problem via antiblocker and gauge duality. This relationship allows us to introduce a semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation whose solutions may be rounded into fractional cut covers by sampling via the random hyperplane technique. We then provide a $1/α_{\scriptscriptstyle \mathrm{GW}}$-approximation algorithm for the weighted fractional cut-covering problem, where $α_{\scriptscriptstyle \mathrm{GW}} \approx 0.878$ is the approximation factor of the celebrated Goemans--Williamson algorithm for the maximum cut problem. Nearly optimal solutions of the SDPs in our duality framework allow one to consider instances of the maximum cut and the fractional cut-covering problems as primal-dual pairs, where cuts and fractional cut covers simultaneously certify each other's approximation quality. We exploit this relationship to introduce new combinatorial certificates for both problems, as well as a randomized polynomial-time algorithm for producing such certificates. In~particular, we~show how the Goemans--Williamson algorithm implicitly approximates a weighted instance of the fractional cut-covering problem, and how our new algorithm explicitly approximates a weighted instance of the maximum cut problem. We conclude by discussing the role played by geometric representations of graphs in our results, and by proving our algorithms and analyses to be optimal in several aspects.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_15346
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Primal-Dual Extension of the Goemans--Williamson Algorithm for the Weighted Fractional Cut-Covering Problem
Proença, Nathan Benedetto
Silva, Marcel K. de Carli
Sato, Cristiane M.
Tunçel, Levent
Optimization and Control
Discrete Mathematics
Data Structures and Algorithms
We study a weighted generalization of the fractional cut-covering problem, which we relate to the maximum cut problem via antiblocker and gauge duality. This relationship allows us to introduce a semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation whose solutions may be rounded into fractional cut covers by sampling via the random hyperplane technique. We then provide a $1/α_{\scriptscriptstyle \mathrm{GW}}$-approximation algorithm for the weighted fractional cut-covering problem, where $α_{\scriptscriptstyle \mathrm{GW}} \approx 0.878$ is the approximation factor of the celebrated Goemans--Williamson algorithm for the maximum cut problem. Nearly optimal solutions of the SDPs in our duality framework allow one to consider instances of the maximum cut and the fractional cut-covering problems as primal-dual pairs, where cuts and fractional cut covers simultaneously certify each other's approximation quality. We exploit this relationship to introduce new combinatorial certificates for both problems, as well as a randomized polynomial-time algorithm for producing such certificates. In~particular, we~show how the Goemans--Williamson algorithm implicitly approximates a weighted instance of the fractional cut-covering problem, and how our new algorithm explicitly approximates a weighted instance of the maximum cut problem. We conclude by discussing the role played by geometric representations of graphs in our results, and by proving our algorithms and analyses to be optimal in several aspects.
title A Primal-Dual Extension of the Goemans--Williamson Algorithm for the Weighted Fractional Cut-Covering Problem
topic Optimization and Control
Discrete Mathematics
Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.15346