Light on the Infinite Group Relaxation

This is a survey on the infinite group problem, an infinite-dimensional relaxation of integer linear optimization problems introduced by Ralph Gomory and Ellis Johnson in their groundbreaking papers titled “Some continuous functions related to corner polyhedra I, II” [Math. Programming 3 (1972), 23-85, 359-389]. The survey presents the infinite group problem in the modern context … Read more

Equivariant Perturbation in Gomory and Johnson’s Infinite Group Problem. III. Foundations for the k-Dimensional Case with Applications to k=2

We develop foundational tools for classifying the extreme valid functions for the k-dimensional infinite group problem. In particular, (1) we present the general regular solution to Cauchy’s additive functional equation on bounded convex domains. This provides a k-dimensional generalization of the so-called interval lemma, allowing us to deduce affine properties of the function from certain … Read more

Graver basis and proximity techniques for block-structured separable convex integer minimization problems

We consider N-fold 4-block decomposable integer programs, which simultaneously generalize N-fold integer programs and two-stage stochastic integer programs with N scenarios. In previous work [R. Hemmecke, M. Koeppe, R. Weismantel, A polynomial-time algorithm for optimizing over N-fold 4-block decomposable integer programs, Proc. IPCO 2010, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 6080, Springer, 2010, pp. 219–229], … Read more

Equivariant Perturbation in Gomory and Johnson’s Infinite Group Problem

We give an algorithm for testing the extremality of minimal valid functions for Gomory and Johnson’s infinite group problem, that are piecewise linear (possibly discontinuous) with rational breakpoints. This is the first set of necessary and sufficient conditions that can be tested algorithmically, for deciding extremality in this important class of minimal valid functions. ArticleDownload … Read more

The Triangle Closure is a Polyhedron

Recently, cutting planes derived from maximal lattice-free convex sets have been studied intensively by the integer programming community. An important question in this research area has been to decide whether the closures associated with certain families of lattice-free sets are polyhedra. For a long time, the only result known was the celebrated theorem of Cook, … Read more

A (k+1)-Slope Theorem for the k-Dimensional Infinite Group Relaxation

We prove that any minimal valid function for the k-dimensional infinite group relaxation that is piecewise linear with at most k+1 slopes and does not factor through a linear map with non-trivial kernel is extreme. This generalizes a theorem of Gomory and Johnson for k=1, and Cornu\’ejols and Molinaro for k=2. ArticleDownload View PDF

Algorithimic and Complexity Results for Cutting Planes Derived from Maximal Lattice-Free Convex Sets

We study a mixed integer linear program with $m$ integer variables and $k$ non-negative continuous variables in the form of the relaxation of the corner polyhedron that was introduced by Andersen, Louveaux, Weismantel and Wolsey [\emph{Inequalities from two rows of a simplex tableau}, Proc.\ IPCO 2007, LNCS, vol.~4513, Springer, pp.~1–15]. We describe the facets of … Read more

A Faster Algorithm for Quasi-convex Integer Polynomial Optimization

We present a faster exponential-time algorithm for integer optimization over quasi-convex polynomials. We study the minimization of a quasi-convex polynomial subject to s quasi-convex polynomial constraints and integrality constraints for all variables. The new algorithm is an improvement upon the best known algorithm due to Heinz (Journal of Complexity, 2005). A lower time complexity is … Read more

Nonlinear Integer Programming

Research efforts of the past fifty years have led to a development of linear integer programming as a mature discipline of mathematical optimization. Such a level of maturity has not been reached when one considers nonlinear systems subject to integrality requirements for the variables. This chapter is dedicated to this topic.  The primary goal is … Read more