Optimal Smoothed Analysis of the Simplex Method

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Bach, Eleon, Huiberts, Sophie
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Bach, Eleon
Huiberts, Sophie
author_facet Bach, Eleon
Huiberts, Sophie
contents Smoothed analysis is a method for analyzing the performance of algorithms, used especially for those algorithms whose running time in practice is significantly better than what can be proven through worst-case analysis. Spielman and Teng (STOC '01) introduced the smoothed analysis framework of algorithm analysis and applied it to the simplex method. Given an arbitrary linear program with $d$ variables and $n$ inequality constraints, Spielman and Teng proved that the simplex method runs in time $O(σ^{-30} d^{55} n^{86})$, where $σ> 0$ is the standard deviation of Gaussian distributed noise added to the original LP data. Spielman and Teng's result was simplified and strengthened over a series of works, with the current strongest upper bound being $O(σ^{-3/2} d^{13/4} \log(n)^{7/4})$ pivot steps due to Huiberts, Lee and Zhang (STOC '23). We prove that there exists a simplex method whose smoothed complexity is upper bounded by $O(σ^{-1/2} d^{11/4} \log(n)^{7/4})$ pivot steps. Furthermore, we prove a matching high-probability lower bound of $Ω( σ^{-1/2} d^{1/2}\ln(4/σ)^{-1/4})$ on the combinatorial diameter of the feasible polyhedron after smoothing, on instances using $n = \lfloor (4/σ)^d \rfloor$ inequality constraints. This lower bound indicates that our algorithm has optimal noise dependence among all simplex methods, up to polylogarithmic factors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_04197
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal Smoothed Analysis of the Simplex Method
Bach, Eleon
Huiberts, Sophie
Data Structures and Algorithms
Smoothed analysis is a method for analyzing the performance of algorithms, used especially for those algorithms whose running time in practice is significantly better than what can be proven through worst-case analysis. Spielman and Teng (STOC '01) introduced the smoothed analysis framework of algorithm analysis and applied it to the simplex method. Given an arbitrary linear program with $d$ variables and $n$ inequality constraints, Spielman and Teng proved that the simplex method runs in time $O(σ^{-30} d^{55} n^{86})$, where $σ> 0$ is the standard deviation of Gaussian distributed noise added to the original LP data. Spielman and Teng's result was simplified and strengthened over a series of works, with the current strongest upper bound being $O(σ^{-3/2} d^{13/4} \log(n)^{7/4})$ pivot steps due to Huiberts, Lee and Zhang (STOC '23). We prove that there exists a simplex method whose smoothed complexity is upper bounded by $O(σ^{-1/2} d^{11/4} \log(n)^{7/4})$ pivot steps. Furthermore, we prove a matching high-probability lower bound of $Ω( σ^{-1/2} d^{1/2}\ln(4/σ)^{-1/4})$ on the combinatorial diameter of the feasible polyhedron after smoothing, on instances using $n = \lfloor (4/σ)^d \rfloor$ inequality constraints. This lower bound indicates that our algorithm has optimal noise dependence among all simplex methods, up to polylogarithmic factors.
title Optimal Smoothed Analysis of the Simplex Method
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.04197