Polyhedra related to a lattice

Without using the l.p. duality theorem, we give a new and direct proof that Hoffman's lattice polyhedra, polyhedra from problems of Edmonds and Giles, and others, are integer. These polyhedra are intersections of more simple polyhedra such that every vertex of the initial polyhedron is a vertex of some simple polyhedron. In many cases encountered in combinatorics the simple polyhedra have a totally unimodular constraint matrix. This implies that all vertices of the initial polyhedron are integral. The proof is based on a theorem on submodular functions, which was not known earlier. The method of this paper can be applied to the consideration of the matching polyhedron.     

Total dual integrality and integer polyhedra

A linear system Ax ? b (A, b rational) is said to be totally dual integral (TDI) if for any integer objective function c such that max {cx: Ax ? b} exists, there is an integer optimum dual solution. We show that if P is a polytope all of whose vertices are integer valued, then it is the solution set of a TDI system Ax ? b where b is integer valued. This was shown by Edmonds and Giles [4] to be a sufficient condition for a polytope to have integer vertices.     

On the core of ordered submodular cost games

A general ordertheoretic linear programming model for the study of matroid-type greedy algorithms is introduced. The primal restrictions are given by so-called weakly increasing submodular functions on antichains. The LP-dual is solved by a Monge-type greedy algorithm. The model offers a direct combinatorial explanation for many integrality results in discrete optimization. In particular, the submodular intersection theorem of Edmonds and Giles is seen to extend to the case with a rooted forest as underlying structure. The core of associated polyhedra is introduced and applications to the existence of the core in cooperative game theory are discussed. Received: November 2, 1995 / Accepted: September 15, 1999?Published online February 23, 2000     

The complexity of recognizing linear systems with certain integrality properties

Let A be a 0 − 1 matrix with precisely two 1’s in each column and let 1 be the all-one vector. We show that the problems of deciding whether the linear system (1) defines an integral polyhedron, (2) is totally dual integral (TDI), and (3) box-totally dual integral (box-TDI) are all co-NP-complete, thereby confirming the conjecture on NP-hardness of recognizing TDI systems made by Edmonds and Giles in 1984. Supported in part by NSA grant H98230-05-1-0081 and NSF grants DMS-0556091 and ITR-0326387. Supported in part by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and Seed Funding for Basic Research of HKU.     

Alternatives for testing total dual integrality

In this paper we provide characterizing properties of totally dual integral (TDI) systems, among others the following: a system of linear inequalities is TDI if and only if its coefficient vectors form a Hilbert basis, and there exists a test-set for the system’s dual integer programs where all test vectors have positive entries equal to 1. Reformulations of this provide relations between computational algebra and integer programming and they contain Applegate, Cook and McCormick’s sufficient condition for the TDI property and Sturmfels’ theorem relating toric initial ideals generated by square-free monomials to unimodular triangulations. We also study the theoretical and practical efficiency and limits of the characterizations of the TDI property presented here. In the particular case of set packing polyhedra our results correspond to endowing the weak perfect graph theorem with an additional, computationally interesting, geometric feature: the normal fan of the stable set polytope of a perfect graph can be refined into a regular triangulation consisting only of unimodular cones.     

Proving total dual integrality with cross-free families—A general framework

We present a theorem stating that certain classes of linear programming problems have integer optimal (primal and dual) solutions. The theorem includes as special cases earlier results of Johnson, Edmonds and Giles, Frank, Hoffman and Schwartz, Gröflin and Hoffman, and Lawler and Martel. The proof method consists of deriving total dual integrality for the corresponding system of linear inequalities from the total unimodularity of certain ‘cross-free’ subsystems. The scheme presented here differs from the one proposed earlier by Grishuhin in that Grishuhin requires the total unimodularity of cross-free subsystems in the axioms, whereas here this follows from easier verifiable axioms.     

On the complexity of robust geometric programming with polyhedral uncertainty

Geometric Programming is a useful tool with a wide range of applications in engineering. As in real-world problems input data is likely to be affected by uncertainty, robust geometric programming has been introduced. It is an open question whether there exists a tractable reformulation of the robust geometric programming model. We provide a negative answer by showing that robust geometric programming with polyhedral uncertainty is co-NP hard, and provide positive results for the case of interval uncertainty.     

Cores of games with restricted cooperation

Games with restricted cooperation are cooperativeN-person games with sidepayments, where the collection of feasible coalitions need not comprise all subsets of players and thus is restricted. We study balanced and completely balanced games in this context and derive the corresponding core theorems from a sandwich theorem for set functions within the setting of linear programming. In particular, we discuss general convex games, which Edmonds and Giles (1977) have shown to be of particular importance also in combinatorial optimization.

---

Zusammenfassung Spiele mit beschränkter Kooperation sind kooperativeN-Personenspiele mit Nebenzahlungen, wobei nicht jede Teilmenge von Spielern zulässig zu sein braucht. In diesem Sinn sind die Kooperationsmöglichkeiten beschränkt. Balancierte und vollständig balancierte Spiele werden in diesem Zusammenhang untersucht. Die entsprechenden Sätze über die Existenz von Kernen werden von einem Sandwichsatz über Mengenfunktionen im Rahmen der linearen Programmierung abgeleitet. Insbesondere werden allgemeine konvexe Spiele diskutiert, deren Bedeutung auch für die kombinatorische Optimierung Edmonds and Giles (1977) aufgezeigt haben.

     

Minimization on submodular flows

Edmonds and Giles [1] discuss functions on the arcs of a digraph satisfying submodular set constraints. We call such functions submodular flows, show that the difference of group-valued submodular flows is a network circulation in a certain auxiliary digraph, and derive a criterion for the existence of group-valued submodular flows. We develop a method for maximizing the value of a group-valued submodular flow in a specified arc and a negative circuit method for minimizing certain functions on ring-valued submodular flows. In particular, algebraic linear functions over modules and certain semimodules as well as quotients of linear functions over totally ordered, commutative fields can be minimized.     

Polybasic polyhedra: structure of polyhedra with edge vectors of support size at most 2

It has widely been recognized that submodular set functions and base polyhedra associated with them play fundamental and important roles in combinatorial optimization problems. In the present paper, we introduce a generalized concept of base polyhedron. We consider a class of pointed convex polyhedra in R^V whose edge vectors have supports of size at most 2. We call such a convex polyhedron a polybasic polyhedron. The class of polybasic polyhedra includes ordinary base polyhedra, submodular/supermodular polyhedra, generalized polymatroids, bisubmodular polyhedra, polybasic zonotopes, boundary polyhedra of flows in generalized networks, etc. We show that for a pointed polyhedron PR^V, the following three statements are equivalent:

(1) P is a polybasic polyhedron.

(2) Each face of P with a normal vector of the full support V is obtained from a base polyhedron by a reflection and scalings along axes.

(3) The support function of P is a submodular function on each orthant of R^V.

This reveals the geometric structure of polybasic polyhedra and its relation to submodularity.     

States in Łukasiewicz logic correspond to probabilities of rational polyhedra

It will be shown that probabilities of infinite-valued events represented by formulas in ?ukasiewicz propositional logic are in one-to-one correspondence with tight probability measures over rational polyhedra in the unit hypercube. This result generalizes a recent work on rational measures of polyhedra and provides an elementary geometric approach to reasoning under uncertainty with states in ?ukasiewicz logic.     

Euclideaness and final polynomials in oriented matroid theory

This paper deals with a geometric construction of algebraic non-realizability proofs for certain oriented matroids. As main result we obtain an algorithm which generates a (bi-quadratic) final polynomial [3], [5] for any non-euclidean oriented matroid. Here we apply the results of Edmonds, Fukuda and Mandel [6], [7] concerning non-degenerate cycling of linear programs in non-euclidean oriented matroids.     

A polynomial cycle canceling algorithm for submodular flows

Submodular flow problems, introduced by Edmonds and Giles [2], generalize network flow problems. Many algorithms for solving network flow problems have been generalized to submodular flow problems (cf. references in Fujishige [4]), e.g. the cycle canceling method of Klein [9]. For network flow problems, the choice of minimum-mean cycles in Goldberg and Tarjan [6], and the choice of minimum-ratio cycles in Wallacher [12] lead to polynomial cycle canceling methods. For submodular flow problems, Cui and Fujishige [1] show finiteness for the minimum-mean cycle method while Zimmermann [16] develops a pseudo-polynomial minimum ratio cycle method. Here, we prove pseudo-polynomiality of a larger class of the minimum-ratio variants and, by combining both methods, we develop a polynomial cycle canceling algorithm for submodular flow problems. Received July 22, 1994 / Revised version received July 18, 1997? Published online May 28, 1999     

On switching paths polyhedra

A class of integer polyhedra with totally dual integral (tdi) systems is proposed, which generalizes and unifies the “Switching Paths Polyhedra” of Hoffman (introduced in his generalization of Max Flow-Min Cut) and such polyhedra as the convex hull of (the incidence vectors of) all “path-closed sets” of an acyclic digraph, or the convex hull of all sets partitionable intok path-closed sets. As an application, new min-max theorems concerning the mentioned sets are given. A general lemma on when a tdi system of inequalities is box tdi is also given and used.     

Children's Evolving Understanding of Polyhedra in the Classroom

To better understand the development of children's thinking in three-dimensional geometry, we conducted a teaching experiment with 8- and 9-year olds in which children built and described polyhedra during several lessons. Analysis of pre-/post-assessments showed that children advanced in their geometric reasoning and began to identify, enumerate, and notice relationships between component parts of polyhedra. Our consideration of a class activity showed how examining a range of examples and non-examples enculturated students into the practice of attending to component parts. Promoting precise, formal definitions for components proved to be a significant challenge for the teacher in establishing norms for class discussions.     

Stationary equilibria in cyclic games: Search and structure

The existence of optimal stationary strategies for a cyclic game played on the vertices of a bipartite graph up to the first cycle with the payoff of one player to the other equaling the sum of the maximal and minimal local payoffs on this cycle is proved. This result implies that the problem belongs to the class NP ∩ co-NP; -a polynomial algorithm that yields optimal strategies for ergodic extensions of matrix games is given. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 67, No. 6, pp. 913–921, June, 2000.     

Geometry in Grassmannians and a generalization of the dilogarithm

In this paper we introduce some polyhedra in Grassman manifolds which we call Grassmannian simplices. We study two aspects of these polyhedra: their combinatorial structure (Section 2) and their relation to harmonic differential forms on the Grassmannian (Section 3). Using this we obtain results about some new differential forms, one of which is the classical dilogarithm (Section 1). The results here unite two threads of mathematics that were much studied in the 19th century. The analytic one, concerning the dilogarithm, goes back to Leibnitz (1696) and Euler (1779) and the geometric one, concerning Grassmannian simplices, can be traced to Binet (1811). In Section 4, we give some of this history along with some recent related results and open problems. In Section 0, we give as an introduction an account in geometric terms of the simplest cases.     

Simplex method and groups generated by reflections

A detailed account of the simplex method applied to a class of polyhedra (called Coxeter complexes) is given. The specific geometric properties of these polyhedra enable their use as a testing-ground for comparison of various linear programming algorithms. Applications to sorting problems are given.     

Decision Problems in Quadratic Function Fields of High Genus

This paper provides verification procedures for a number of decision problems in quadratic function fields of odd characteristic, thereby establishing membership of these problems in both NP and co-NP. The problems include determining the ideal and divisor class numbers of the field, the regulator of the field (in the real case), a generating system of the ideal class group, a basis of the ideal class group, the pricipality of an ideal, the equivalence of two ideals, the discrete logarithm of an ideal class with respect to another ideal class, and the order of a class in the ideal class group. While several of these problems belong to the aforementioned complexity classes unconditionally, others require a certain assumption to ensure that the verification procedures can be done in polynomial time; so far, this assumption has only been verified for fields of high genus.     

A criterion for the integral equivalence of two generalized convex integer polyhedra

We introduce the notion of integral equivalence and formulate a criterion for the equivalence of two polyhedra having certain special properties. The category of polyhedra under consideration includes Klein polyhedra, which are the convex hulls of nonzero points of the lattice ?³ that belong to some 3-dimensional simplicial cone with vertex at the origin, and therefore the criterion enables one to improve some results related to Klein polyhedra. In particular, we suggest a simplified formulation of a geometric analog of Lagrange’s theorem on continued fractions in the three-dimensional case.