Improved semidefinite programming bounds for the maximum $k$-colorable subgraph problem

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Barkel, Mathijs, Sotirov, Renata
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866910188627296256
author Barkel, Mathijs
Sotirov, Renata
author_facet Barkel, Mathijs
Sotirov, Renata
contents We study the maximum $k$-colorable subgraph (M$k$CS) problem, which consists in finding a largest $k$-colorable induced subgraph in a given graph. We consider a Semidefinite Programming (SDP) relaxation for the M$k$CS problem and regard its resulting upper bound as a graph parameter. We present several properties of this graph parameter, from which we obtain that the M$k$CS problem is solvable in polynomial time for $k$-perfect graphs. We further derive two novel families of valid inequalities to strengthen the SDP relaxation. The first family reduces to a family of inequalities for the Boolean quadric polytope when $k = 1$, and the second family generalizes the family of rank inequalities for binary linear programming formulations of the stable set problem. We efficiently solve the strengthened SDP relaxation using a cutting-plane algorithm that is based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). Extensive computational experiments show that the obtained upper bounds outperform the best upper bounds from the literature. To complement our SDP-based upper bounds, we propose an integer ADMM variant that uses an exact Binary Semidefinite Programming (BSDP) formulation of the M$k$CS problem to produce high-quality feasible solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of the ADMM to compute integer solutions to a BSDP problem.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_02456
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improved semidefinite programming bounds for the maximum $k$-colorable subgraph problem
Barkel, Mathijs
Sotirov, Renata
Optimization and Control
05C15, 05C17, 90C22, 90C27, 90C35
We study the maximum $k$-colorable subgraph (M$k$CS) problem, which consists in finding a largest $k$-colorable induced subgraph in a given graph. We consider a Semidefinite Programming (SDP) relaxation for the M$k$CS problem and regard its resulting upper bound as a graph parameter. We present several properties of this graph parameter, from which we obtain that the M$k$CS problem is solvable in polynomial time for $k$-perfect graphs. We further derive two novel families of valid inequalities to strengthen the SDP relaxation. The first family reduces to a family of inequalities for the Boolean quadric polytope when $k = 1$, and the second family generalizes the family of rank inequalities for binary linear programming formulations of the stable set problem. We efficiently solve the strengthened SDP relaxation using a cutting-plane algorithm that is based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). Extensive computational experiments show that the obtained upper bounds outperform the best upper bounds from the literature. To complement our SDP-based upper bounds, we propose an integer ADMM variant that uses an exact Binary Semidefinite Programming (BSDP) formulation of the M$k$CS problem to produce high-quality feasible solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of the ADMM to compute integer solutions to a BSDP problem.
title Improved semidefinite programming bounds for the maximum $k$-colorable subgraph problem
topic Optimization and Control
05C15, 05C17, 90C22, 90C27, 90C35
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02456