Minimal triangulation of a graph and optimal pivoting order in a sparse matrix

This paper considers the problem of finding a minimal triangulation of an undirected graph G = (V, E), where a triangulation is a set T such that every cycle in G = (V, E ∪ T) has a chord. A triangulation T is minimal (minimum) if no triangulation F exists such that F is a proper subset of $\text{T (¦F¦ < ¦T¦)}$, and an ordering α is optimal (optimum) if a minimal (minimum) triangulation is generated by α. A minimum triangulation (optimum ordering) is necessarily minimal (optimal), but the converse is not necessarily true. A necessary and sufficient condition for a triangulation to be minimal is presented. This leads to an algorithm for finding an optimal ordering α which produces a minimal set of “fill-in” when the process is viewed as triangular factorization of a sparse matrix.     

Improved heuristics for the minimum weight triangulation problem

Given a planar point setS, a triangulation ofS is a maximal set of non-intersecting line segments connecting the points. The minimum weight triangulation problem is to find a triangulation ofS such that the sum of the lengths of the line segments in it is the smallest. No polynomial time algorithm is known to produce the optimal or even a constant approximation of the optimal solution, and it is also unknown whether the problem is NP-hard. In this paper, we propose two improved heuristics, which triangulate a set ofn points in a plane inO(n ³) time and never do worse than the minimum spanning tree triangulation algorithm given by Lingas and the greedy spanning tree triangulation algorithm given by Heath and Pemmaraju. These two algorithms both produce an optimal triangulation if the points are the vertices of a convex polygon, and also do the same in some special cases.     

An O(K·n4) algorithm for finding the k best cuts in a network

An algorithm for finding the K best cuts in a network is presented. Using a branch technique introduced by Lawler [4] we reduce the problem to K computations of 2nd best cuts. The latter problem can be solved by an O(n⁴) algorithm yielding an overall complexity of O(K·n⁴) for the presented algorithm.     

Acute triangulations of polyhedra and ℝ N

We study the problem of acute triangulations of convex polyhedra and the space ? ⁿ . Here an acute triangulation is a triangulation into simplices whose dihedral angles are acute. We prove that acute triangulations of the n-cube do not exist for n≥4. Further, we prove that acute triangulations of the space ? ⁿ do not exist for n≥5. In the opposite direction, in ?³, we present a construction of an acute triangulation of the cube, the regular octahedron and a non-trivial acute triangulation of the regular tetrahedron. We also prove nonexistence of an acute triangulation of ?⁴ if all dihedral angles are bounded away from π/2.     

Computing a Minimum Weight Triangulation of a Sparse Point Set*

Investigating the minimum weight triangulation of a point set with constraint is an important approach for seeking the ultimate solution of the minimum weight triangulation problem. In this paper, we consider the minimum weight triangulation of a sparse point set, and present an O(n ⁴) algorithm to compute a triangulation of such a set. The property of sparse point set can be converted into a new sufficient condition for finding subgraphs of the minimum weight triangulation. A special point set is exhibited to show that our new subgraph of minimum weight triangulation cannot be found by any currently known methods.     

On the complexity of some arborescences finding problems on a multihop radio network

An arborescence of a multihop radio network is a directed spanning tree (with rootx) such that the edges are directed away from the root. Based upon an arborescence,x canbroadcast a message to other nodes according to the directed edges of the spanning tree. The minimum transmission power arborescence problem is to find an arborescence such that the message can be broadcasted to other nodes by using a minimal amount of transmission power. The minimum delay arborescence problem is to find an arborescence such that a message can be broadcasted to other nodes by using a minimal number of broadcast transmission. In this paper we show that both these problems areNP-complete. The reductions are from the maximum leaf spanning tree problem.Areverse arborescence is similar to an arborescence except that the edges are directed toward the root. Based upon a reverse arborescence, the root node cancollect information from other nodes. In this paper we also show that the reverse minimum transmission power arborescence problem can be solved with the same computational complexity as that of finding a minimum cost spanning tree, and the reverse minimum delay arborescence problem can be solved with the same computational complexity as that of finding a spanning tree.     

Maillage simplicial d'un polyèdre arbitraire

Issues related to the existence of a triangulation of an arbitrary polyhedron are addressed. Given a boundary surface mesh (a set of triangular facets), the problem to decide whether or not a triangulation (with no internal points apart from the Steiner points) exists is reported to be NP-hard. In this paper, an algorithm to triangulate a general polyhedron is used which makes use of a classical Delaunay triangulation algorithm, a phase for recovering the missing boundary facets by means of facet partitioning and a final phase that makes it possible to remove the additional (non-Steiner) points previously defined so as to recover the initial boundary mesh thus resulting in a mesh of the given polyhedron. To cite this article: P.-L. George, H. Borouchaki, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).     

Solving discrete systems of nonlinear equations

We study the existence problem of a zero point of a function defined on a finite set of elements of the integer lattice Zⁿ of the n-dimensional Euclidean space Rⁿ. It is assumed that the set is integrally convex, which implies that the convex hull of the set can be subdivided in simplices such that every vertex is an element of Zⁿ and each simplex of the triangulation lies in an n-dimensional cube of size one. With respect to this triangulation we assume that the function satisfies some property that replaces continuity. Under this property and some boundary condition the function has a zero point. To prove this we use a simplicial algorithm that terminates with a zero point within a finite number of iterations. The standard technique of applying a fixed point theorem to a piecewise linear approximation cannot be applied, because the ‘continuity property’ is too weak to assure that a zero point of the piecewise linear approximation induces a zero point of the function itself. We apply the main existence result to prove the existence of a pure Cournot-Nash equilibrium in a Cournot oligopoly model. We further obtain a discrete analogue of the well-known Borsuk-Ulam theorem and a theorem for the existence of a solution for the discrete nonlinear complementarity problem.     

An O(n2log n) parallel max-flow algorithm

A synchronized parallel algorithm for finding maximum flow in a directed flow network is presented. Its depth is $\text{O(}\text{n}{}^3\text{(}\text{log}\text{n)}\text{p)}$, where p (p ≤ n) is the number of processors used. This problem seems to be more involved than most of the problems for which efficient parallel algorithms exist. The parallel algorithm induces a new rather simple sequential O(n³) algorithm. This algorithm is very much parallel oriented. It is quite difficult to conceive and analyze it, if one is restricted to the sequential point of view.     

A Branch and Bound algorithm for the minimax regret spanning arborescence

The paper considers the problem of finding a spanning arborescence on a directed network whose arc costs are partially known. It is assumed that each arc cost can take on values from a known interval defining a possible economic scenario. In this context, the problem of finding the spanning arborescence which better approaches to that of minimum overall cost under each possible scenario is studied. The minimax regret criterion is proposed in order to obtain such a robust solution of the problem. As it is shown, the bounds on the optimal value of the minimax regret optimization problem obtained in a previous paper, can be used here in a Branch and Bound algorithm in order to give an optimal solution. The computational behavior of the algorithm is tested through numerical experiments. This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and FEDER Grant No. MTM2006-04393 and by the European Alfa Project, “Engineering System for Preparing and Making Decisions Under Multiple Criteria”, II-0321-FA.     

A new asymmetric inclusion region for minimum weight triangulation

As a global optimization problem, planar minimum weight triangulation problem has attracted extensive research attention. In this paper, a new asymmetric graph called one-sided β-skeleton is introduced. We show that the one-sided circle-disconnected (?2b){(\sqrt{2}\beta)} -skeleton is a subgraph of a minimum weight triangulation. An algorithm for identifying subgraph of minimum weight triangulation using the one-sided (?2b){(\sqrt{2}\beta)} -skeleton is proposed and it runs in O(n^4/3+e+min{klogn, n²logn}){O(n^{4/3+\epsilon}+\min\{\kappa \log n, n^2\log n\})} time, where κ is the number of intersected segmented between the complete graph and the greedy triangulation of the point set.     

An O(n) algorithm for the variable common due date,minimal tardy jobs bicriteria two-machine flow shop problem with ordered machines

We consider the ordinary NP- hard two-machine flow shop problem with the objective of determining simultaneously a minimal common due date and the minimal number of tardy jobs. We present an O(n²) algorithm for the problem when the machines are ordered, that is, when each job has its smaller processing time on the first (second) machine. We also discuss the applicability of the proposed algorithm to the corresponding single-objective problem in which the common due date is given.     

Computational Complexity of the Vertex Cover Problem in the Class of Planar Triangulations

We study the computational complexity of the vertex cover problem in the class of planar graphs (planar triangulations) admitting a plane representation whose faces are triangles. It is shown that the problem is strongly NP-hard in the class of 4-connected planar triangulations in which the degrees of vertices are of order O(log n), where n is the number of vertices, and in the class of plane 4-connected Delaunay triangulations based on the Minkowski triangular distance. A pair of vertices in such a triangulation is adjacent if and only if there is an equilateral triangle ?(p, λ) with p ∈ R² and λ > 0 whose interior does not contain triangulation vertices and whose boundary contains this pair of vertices and only it, where ?(p, λ) = p + λ? = {x ∈ R²: x = p + λa, a ∈ ?}; here ? is the equilateral triangle with unit sides such that its barycenter is the origin and one of the vertices belongs to the negative y-axis. Keywords: computational complexity, Delaunay triangulation, Delaunay TD-triangulation.     

Polynomial testing of the query “IS ab ≥ cd?” with application to finding a minimal cost reliability ratio spanning tree

Given integers a, b, c, d, we present a polynomial algorithm for the query “is a^b ≥ c^d?”. The result is applied to yield a polynomial algorithm for the minimal cost reliability ratio spanning tree problem.     

Sur les arborescences dans un graphe oriente

The main result of this paper is the following theorem: Let G = (X,E) be a digraph without loops or multiple edges, |X| ?3, and h be an integer ?1, if G contains a spanning arborescence and if d⁺_G(x)+d^?_G(x)+d^?_G(y)+d^?_G(y)? 2|X |?2h?1 for all x, y?X, x ≠ y, non adjacent in G, then G contains a spanning arborescence with ?h terminal vertices. A strengthening of Gallai-Milgram's theorem is also proved.     

A 3/4-approximation algorithm for finding two disjoint Hamiltonian cycles of maximum weight

We study the problem in which, given a complete undirected edge-weighted graph, it is required to find two (edge) disjoint Hamiltonian cycles of maximum total weight. The problem is known to be NP-hard in the strong sense. We present a 3/4-approximation algorithm with the running time O(n ³).     

Generalized delaunay triangulation for planar graphs

We introduce the notion of generalized Delaunay triangulation of a planar straight-line graphG=(V, E) in the Euclidean plane and present some characterizations of the triangulation. It is shown that the generalized Delaunay triangulation has the property that the minimum angle of the triangles in the triangulation is maximum among all possible triangulations of the graph. A general algorithm that runs inO(|V|²) time for computing the generalized Delaunay triangulation is presented. When the underlying graph is a simple polygon, a divide-and-conquer algorithm based on the polygon cutting theorem of Chazelle is given that runs inO(|V| log |V|) time.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants DCR 8420814 and ECS 8340031.     

An efficient algorithm to solve connectivity problem on trapezoid graphs

The connectivity problem is a fundamental problem in graph theory. The best known algorithm to solve the connectivity problem on general graphs withn vertices andm edges takesO(K(G)mn ^1.5) time, whereK(G) is the vertex connectivity ofG. In this paper, an efficient algorithm is designed to solve vertex connectivity problem, which takesO(n ²) time andO(n) space for a trapezoid graph.     

An exact algorithm for MAX-CUT in sparse graphs

We study exact algorithms for the MAX-CUT problem. Introducing a new technique, we present an algorithmic scheme that computes a maximum cut in graphs with bounded maximum degree. Our algorithm runs in time O^*(2^(1-(2/Δ))n). We also describe a MAX-CUT algorithm for general graphs. Its time complexity is O^*(2^mn/(m+n)). Both algorithms use polynomial space.     

An O(mn log (nU)) time algorithm to solve the feasibility problem

The phase I maximum flow and most positive cut methods are used to solve the feasibility problem. Both of these methods take one maximum flow computation. Thus the feasibility problem can be solved using maximum flow algorithms. Let n and m be the number of nodes and arcs, respectively. In this paper, we present an algorithm to solve the feasibility problem with integer lower and upper bounds. The running time of our algorithm is O(mn log (nU)), where U is the value of maximum upper bound. Our algorithm improves the O(m² log (nU))-time algorithm in [12]. Hence the current algorithm improves the running time in [12] by a factor of n. Sleator and Goldberg’s algorithm is one of the well-known maximum flow algorithms, which runs in O(mn log n) time, see [5]. Under similarity assumption [11], our algorithm runs in O(mn log n) time, which is the running time of Sleator and Goldberg’s algorithm. The merit of our algorithm is that, in the case of infeasibility of the given network, it not only diagnoses infeasibility but also presents some information that is useful to modeler in estimating the maximum cost of adjusting the infeasible network.