Simple polytopes without small separators

We show that by cutting off the vertices and then the edges of neighborly cubical polytopes, one obtains simple 4-dimensional polytopes with n vertices such that all separators of the graph have size at least Ω(n/log^3/2 n). This disproves a conjecture by Kalai from 1991/2004.     

Combinatorial optimization and Green Logistics

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the area of Green Logistics and to describe some of the problems that arise in this subject which can be formulated as combinatorial optimization problems. The paper particularly considers the topics of reverse logistics, waste management and vehicle routing and scheduling.      

Combinatorial optimization and hierarchical classifications

This paper is devoted to some selected topics relating Combinatorial Optimization and Hierarchical Classification. It is oriented toward extensions of the standard classification schemes (the hierarchies): pyramids, quasi-hierarchies, circular clustering, rigid clustering and others. Bijection theorems between these models and dissimilarity models allow to state some clustering problems as optimization problems. Within the galaxy of optimization we have especially discussed the following: NP-completeness results and search for polynomial instances; problems solved in a polynomial time (e.g. subdominant theory); design, analysis and applications of algorithms. In contrast with the orientation to new clustering problems, the last part discusses some standard algorithmic approaches.Received: July 2004, Revised: September 2004, MSC classification: 62H30, 91C20, 05C65, 90C27, 68R01     

Combinatorial optimization and Green Logistics

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the area of Green Logistics and to describe some of the problems that arise in this subject which can be formulated as combinatorial optimization problems. The paper particularly considers the topics of reverse logistics, waste management and vehicle routing and scheduling.     

Realizability and inscribability for simplicial polytopes via nonlinear optimization

We consider the problem of screening where a seller puts up for sale an indivisible good, and a buyer with a valuation unknown to the seller wishes to acquire the good. We assume that the buyer valuations are represented as discrete types drawn from some distribution, which is also unknown to the seller. The seller is averse to possible mis-specification of types distribution, and considers the unknown type density as member of an ambiguity set and seeks an optimal pricing mechanism in a worst case sense. We specify four choices for the ambiguity set and derive the optimal mechanism in each case.     

Combinatorial optimization by stochastic automata

The significance of combinatorial optimization for many important applications is well understood. The simulated annealing algorithm (which we will denote from here on as SA) has generated great interest and attention in the scientific community. Its authors derived it from analogies to the physical domain [15,10], and a myriad of publications followed (see references to the book on simulated annealing in [11]). The prevailing opinion expressed in these publications was that the SA algorithm represents a new, hitherto unknown class of algorithms and provides a breakthrough in the solution of NP-hard optimization problems. As might be expected, roots of the SA do exist, and one of the purposes of this paper is to trace these roots. We prove that SA, like many other randomized algorithms, belongs to the class of S-type GH-stochastic automata. We provide other representatives of this class together with algorithms from some other classes, and discuss the issue of convergence. Large computational experiemts were performed on a network of Apollo computers.     

Combinatorial optimization with 2-joins

A 2-join is an edge cutset that naturally appears in decomposition of several classes of graphs closed under taking induced subgraphs, such as perfect graphs and claw-free graphs. In this paper we construct combinatorial polynomial time algorithms for finding a maximum weighted clique, a maximum weighted stable set and an optimal coloring for a class of perfect graphs decomposable by 2-joins: the class of perfect graphs that do not have a balanced skew partition, a 2-join in the complement, nor a homogeneous pair. The techniques we develop are general enough to be easily applied to finding a maximum weighted stable set for another class of graphs known to be decomposable by 2-joins, namely the class of even-hole-free graphs that do not have a star cutset.We also give a simple class of graphs decomposable by 2-joins into bipartite graphs and line graphs, and for which finding a maximum stable set is NP-hard. This shows that having holes all of the same parity gives essential properties for the use of 2-joins in computing stable sets.     

Ideal polytopes and face structures of some combinatorial optimization problems

Given a finite setX and a family of feasible subsetsF ofX, the 0–1 polytope P (F is defined as the convex hull of all the characteristic vectors of members ofF We show that under a certain assumption a special type of face ofP(F) is equivalent to the ideal polytope of some pseudo-ordered set. Examples of families satisfying the assumption are those related to the maximum stable set problem, set packing and set partitioning problems, and vertex coloring problem. Using this fact, we propose a new heuristic for such problems and give results of our preliminary computational experiments for the maximum stable set problem.Supported by a JSPS Fellowship for Young Scientists.Supported by Grant-in-Aids for Co-operative Research (06740147) of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.     

Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes and Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg polytopes as marked poset polytopes

Stanley (1986) showed how a finite partially ordered set gives rise to two polytopes, called the order polytope and chain polytope, which have the same Ehrhart polynomial despite being quite different combinatorially. We generalize his result to a wider family of polytopes constructed from a poset P with integers assigned to some of its elements.Through this construction, we explain combinatorially the relationship between the Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes (1950) and the Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg polytopes (2010, 2005), which arise in the representation theory of the special linear Lie algebra. We then use the generalized Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes of Berenstein and Zelevinsky (1989) to propose conjectural analogues of the Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg polytopes corresponding to the symplectic and odd orthogonal Lie algebras.     

Combinatorial optimization problems in wireless switch design

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the diversity of combinatorial problems encountered in the design of wireless switching systems. This is done via a representative selection of examples of real problems along with their associated solution methods. It should be emphasized that all the solution methods presented in this paper are successfully operating in the field at the time of writing. To the memory of my beloved father, French Navy Admiral Christian Sirdey, whose life was cut short by cancer on November the 13th, 2006.     

In polytopes,small balls about some vertex minimize perimeter

In (the surface of) a convex polytope Pⁿ in ℝⁿ⁺¹, for small prescribed volume, geodesic balls about some vertex minimize perimeter.     

Algebraic shifting of cyclic polytopes and stacked polytopes

Gil Kalai introduced the shifting-theoretic upper bound relation as a method to generalize the g-theorem for simplicial spheres by using algebraic shifting. We will study the connection between the shifting-theoretic upper bound relation and combinatorial shifting. Also, we will compute the exterior algebraic shifted complex of the boundary complex of the cyclic d-polytope as well as of a stacked d-polytope. It will turn out that, in both cases, the exterior algebraic shifted complex coincides with the symmetric algebraic shifted complex.     

Flow polytopes and the graph of reflexive polytopes

We suggest defining the structure of an unoriented graph R_d on the set of reflexive polytopes of a fixed dimension d. The edges are induced by easy mutations of the polytopes to create the possibility of walks along connected components inside this graph. For this, we consider two types of mutations: Those provided by performing duality via nef-partitions, and those arising from varying the lattice. Then for d≤3, we identify the flow polytopes among the reflexive polytopes of each single component of the graph R_d. For this, we present for any dimension d≥2 an explicit finite list of quivers giving all d-dimensional reflexive flow polytopes up to lattice isomorphism. We deduce as an application that any such polytope has at most 6(d−1) facets.