A branch and bound algorithm for the maximum clique problem

We present a branch and bound algorithm for the maximum clique problem in arbitrary graphs. The main part of the algorithm consists in the determination of upper bounds by graph colorings. Using a modification of a known graph coloring method called DSATUR we simultaneously derive lower and upper bounds for the clique number.

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Zusammenfassung Wir stellen einen Branch and Bound Algorithmus für das Maximum Clique Problem in einem beliebigen Graphen vor. Das Hauptaugenmerk richtet sich dabei auf die Bestimmung oberer Schranken mit Hilfe von Färbungen von Graphen. Es wird eine Modifikation einer bekannten Färbungsmethode, genannt DSATUR, verwendet, mit der sich gleichzeitig obere und untere Schranken für die Cliquezahl erstellen lassen.

     

Diagnosing infeasibilities in network flow problems

We consider the problem of finding a feasible flow in a directed networkG = (N,A) in which each nodei N has a supplyb(i), and each arc(i,j) A has a zero lower bound on flow and an upper boundu _ij . It is well known that this feasibility problem can be transformed into a maximum flow problem. It is also well known that there is no feasible flow in the networkG if and only if there is a subsetS of nodes such that the net supplies of the nodes inS exceeds the capacity of the arcs emanating fromS. Such a setS is called awitness of infeasibility (or, simply, awitness) of the network flow problem. In the case that there are many different witnesses for an infeasible problem, a small cardinality witness may be preferable in practice because it is generally easier for the user to assimilate, and may provide more guidance to the user on how to identify the cause of the infeasibility. Here we show that the problem of finding a minimum cardinality witness is NP-hard. We also consider the problem of determining aminimal witness, that is, a witnessS such that no proper subset ofS is also a witness. In this paper, we show that we can determine a minimal witness by solving a sequence of at mostn maximum flow problems. Moreover, if we use the preflow-push algorithm to solve the resulting maximum flow problems and organize computations properly, then the total time taken by the algorithm is comparable to that of solving a single maximum flow problem. This approach determines a minimal cardinality witness in O(n ² m ^1/2) time using simple data structures and in O(nm logn) time using the standard implementation of the dynamic tree data structures. We also show that the recognition version of the minimal witness problem is equivalent to a recognition version of a related problem known as theminimum rooted cut problem. © 1998 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.Corresponding author.     

A simple Marquardt algorithm for the nonlinear least-squares problem

A new implementation of the Marquardt method for the nonlinear least-squares problem is presented. The algorithm is very simple but its performance with nine test functions is at least comparable with either Davidon-Fletcher-Powell's method or Moré's adaptive Marquardt method.     

On Schmerl's effective version of Brooks' theorem

A new proof is given of Schmerl's recent result that a highly recursive graph G with χ(G) ≤ k according to Brooks' theorem, has a recursive k-colouring.     

A strongly polynomial algorithm for the minimum maximum flow degree problem

Let us consider a network flow respecting arc capacities and flow conservation constraints. The flow degree of a node is sum of the flow entering and leaving it. We study the problem of determining a flow that minimizes the maximum flow degree of a node. We show how to solve it in strongly polynomial time with linear programming.     

A generalization of Berwick's unit algorithm

In 1913 W. E. H. Berwick published an algorithm for finding the fundamental unit of a cubic field with negative discriminant. His method relied heavily on the geometry of such fields and was less efficient than the well-known algorithm of Voronoi. In the present paper we show that the use of cubic geometry is not necessary and also that Berwick's method can be generalized. We present a periodic algorithm for finding a maximal set of independent units in an arbitrary algebraic number field.     

An improved version of Lloyd's theorem

The generalisation of Lloyd's theorem to distance-transitive graphs can be improved in the case of antipodal graphs by looking at the derived graph. In the case of binary perfect codes the roots of the Lloyd polynomial are even integers. This can be applied to give a short proof of the binary perfect code theorem.     

A specialized network simplex algorithm for the constrained maximum flow problem

The constrained maximum flow problem is to send the maximum flow from a source to a sink in a directed capacitated network where each arc has a cost and the total cost of the flow cannot exceed a budget. This problem is similar to some variants of classical problems such as the constrained shortest path problem, constrained transportation problem, or constrained assignment problem, all of which have important applications in practice. The constrained maximum flow problem itself has important applications, such as in logistics, telecommunications and computer networks. In this research, we present an efficient specialized network simplex algorithm that significantly outperforms the two widely used LP solvers: CPLEX and lp_solve. We report CPU times of an average of 27 times faster than CPLEX (with its dual simplex algorithm), the closest competitor of our algorithm.     

A new strongly polynomial dual network simplex algorithm

This paper presents a new dual network simplex algorithm for the minimum cost network flow problem. The algorithm works directly on the original capacitated network and runs in O(mn(m +n logn) logn) time for the network withn nodes andm arcs. This complexity is better than the complexity of Orlin, Plotkin and Tardos’ (1993) dual network simplex algorithm by a factor ofm/n.     

A simple algorithm to detect balance in signed graphs

We develop a natural correspondence between marked graphs and balanced signed graphs, and exploit it to obtain a simple linear time algorithm by which any signed graph may be tested for balance.     

A new pivot selection rule for the network simplex algorithm

We present a new network simplex pivot selection rule, which we call theminimum ratio pivot rule, and analyze the worst-case complexity of the resulting network simplex algorithm. We consider networks withn nodes,m arcs, integral arc capacities and integral supplies/demands of nodes. We define a {0, 1}-valued penalty for each arc of the network. The minimum ratio pivot rule is to select that eligible arc as the entering arc whose addition to the basis creates a cycle with the minimum cost-to-penalty ratio. We show that the so-defined primal network simplex algorithm solves minimum cost flow problem within O(nΔ) pivots and in O(Δ(m + n logn)) time, whereΔ is any upper bound on the sum of all arc flows in every feasible flow. For assignment and shortest path problems, our algorithm runs in O(n ²) pivots and O(nm +n ² logn) time.     

A new model for multicommodity flow problems,and a strongly polynomial algorithm for single-source Maximum Concurrent Flow

In this paper, a new decomposition approach is proposed to solve large size instances of Multicommodity Flow problems. Instead of generating paths, we generate trees in a convenient way. Numerical results show that the new approach is much more efficient than the classical paths generation approach. Moreover, we propose a combinatorial polynomial-time algorithm to solve the maximum concurrent flow problem (MCF) in the single-source case.     

An approximate version of the Loebl-Komlós-Sós conjecture

Loebl, Komlós, and Sós conjectured that if at least half of the vertices of a graph G have degree at least some k∈N, then every tree with at most k edges is a subgraph of G. Our main result is an approximate version of this conjecture for large enough n=|V(G)|, assumed that n=O(k).Our result implies an asymptotic bound for the Ramsey number of trees. We prove that r(Tk,Tm)?k+m+o(k+m), as k+m→∞.     

Simplifying maximum flow computations: The effect of shrinking and good initial flows

Maximum flow problems occur in a wide range of applications. Although already well studied, they are still an area of active research. The fastest available implementations for determining maximum flows in graphs are either based on augmenting path or on push-relabel algorithms. In this work, we present two ingredients that, appropriately used, can considerably speed up these methods. On the theoretical side, we present flow-conserving conditions under which subgraphs can be contracted to a single vertex. These rules are in the same spirit as presented by Padberg and Rinaldi (1990) [12] for the minimum cut problem in graphs. These rules allow the reduction of known worst-case instances for different maximum flow algorithms to equivalent trivial instances. On the practical side, we propose a two-step max-flow algorithm for solving the problem on instances coming from physics and computer vision. In the two-step algorithm, flow is first sent along augmenting paths of restricted lengths only. Starting from this flow, the problem is then solved to optimality using some known max-flow methods. By extensive experiments on instances coming from applications in theoretical physics and computer vision, we show that a suitable combination of the proposed techniques speeds up traditionally used methods.     

Local optimality conditions for multicommodity flow problems with separable piecewise convex costs

We consider here a multicommodity flow network optimization problem with non-convex but piecewise convex arc cost functions. We derive complete optimality conditions for local minima based on negative-cost cycles associated with each commodity. These conditions do not extend to the convex non-smooth case.