Sublinear Metric Steiner Forest via Maximal Independent Set

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mahabadi, Sepideh, Roghani, Mohammad, Tarnawski, Jakub, Vakilian, Ali
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Mahabadi, Sepideh
Roghani, Mohammad
Tarnawski, Jakub
Vakilian, Ali
author_facet Mahabadi, Sepideh
Roghani, Mohammad
Tarnawski, Jakub
Vakilian, Ali
contents In this work we consider the Metric Steiner Forest problem in the sublinear time model. Given a set $V$ of $n$ points in a metric space where distances are provided by means of query access to an $n\times n$ distance matrix, along with a set of $k$ terminal pairs $(s_1,t_1), \dots, (s_k,t_k)\in V\times V$, the goal is to find a minimum-weight subset of edges that connects each terminal pair. Although sublinear time algorithms have been studied for estimating the weight of a minimum spanning tree in both general and metric settings, as well as for the metric Steiner Tree problem, no sublinear time algorithm was known for the metric Steiner Forest problem. Here, we give an $O(\log k)$-approximation algorithm for the problem that runs in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2})$. Along the way, we provide the first sublinear-time algorithm for estimating the size of a Maximal Independent Set (MIS). Our algorithm runs in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2}/\varepsilon^2)$ under the adjacency matrix oracle model and obtains a purely multiplicative $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation. Previously, sublinear-time algorithms for MIS were only known for bounded-degree graphs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_11627
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sublinear Metric Steiner Forest via Maximal Independent Set
Mahabadi, Sepideh
Roghani, Mohammad
Tarnawski, Jakub
Vakilian, Ali
Data Structures and Algorithms
In this work we consider the Metric Steiner Forest problem in the sublinear time model. Given a set $V$ of $n$ points in a metric space where distances are provided by means of query access to an $n\times n$ distance matrix, along with a set of $k$ terminal pairs $(s_1,t_1), \dots, (s_k,t_k)\in V\times V$, the goal is to find a minimum-weight subset of edges that connects each terminal pair. Although sublinear time algorithms have been studied for estimating the weight of a minimum spanning tree in both general and metric settings, as well as for the metric Steiner Tree problem, no sublinear time algorithm was known for the metric Steiner Forest problem. Here, we give an $O(\log k)$-approximation algorithm for the problem that runs in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2})$. Along the way, we provide the first sublinear-time algorithm for estimating the size of a Maximal Independent Set (MIS). Our algorithm runs in time $\widetilde{O}(n^{3/2}/\varepsilon^2)$ under the adjacency matrix oracle model and obtains a purely multiplicative $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation. Previously, sublinear-time algorithms for MIS were only known for bounded-degree graphs.
title Sublinear Metric Steiner Forest via Maximal Independent Set
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11627