Facet Defining Inequalities among Graph Invariants: the system GraPHedron

We present a new computer system, called GraPHedron, which uses a polyhedral approach to help the user to discover optimal conjectures in graph theory. We define what should be optimal conjectures and propose a formal framework allowing to identify them. Here, graphs with n nodes are viewed as points in the Euclidian space, whose coordinates … Read more

Column basis reduction and decomposable knapsack problems

We propose a very simple preconditioning method for integer programming feasibility problems: replacing the problem b’   ≤   Ax   ≤   b,   x ∈ Zn with b’   ≤   (AU)y   ≤   b,   y ∈ Zn, where U is a unimodular matrix computed via basis reduction, to make the … Read more

Tractable algorithms for chance-constrained combinatorial problems

This paper aims at proposing tractable algorithms to find effectively good solutions to large size chance-constrained combinatorial problems. A new robust model is introduced to deal with uncertainty in mixed-integer linear problems. It is shown to be strongly related to chance-constrained programming when considering pure 0-1 problems. Furthermore, its tractability is highlighted. Then, an optimization … Read more

Minimum weight t-composition of an integer

If $p \geq t$ are positive integers, a t-composition of p is an ordered t-tuple of positive integers summing p. If $T=(s_1, s_2, \dots, s_t)$ is a t-composition of p and W is a $p-(t-1) \times t$ matrix, call $W(T)= \sum_{k=1}^t w_{s_k k}$ the weight of the t-composition T. We show that finding a minimum … Read more

Expressing Combinatorial Optimization Problems by Systems of Polynomial Equations and the Nullstellensatz

Systems of polynomial equations over the complex or real numbers can be used to model combinatorial problems. In this way, a combinatorial problem is feasible (e.g. a graph is 3-colorable, hamiltonian, etc.) if and only if a related system of polynomial equations has a solution. In the first part of this paper, we construct new … Read more

Separation Algorithms for 0-1 Knapsack Polytopes

Valid inequalities for 0-1 knapsack polytopes often prove useful when tackling hard 0-1 Linear Programming problems. To use such inequalities effectively, one needs separation algorithms for them, i.e., routines for detecting when they are violated. We show that the separation problems for the so-called extended cover and weight inequalities can be solved exactly in O(nb) … Read more

On the strength of cut-based inequalities for capacitated network design polyhedra

In this paper we study capacitated network design problems, differentiating directed, bidirected and undirected link capacity models. We complement existing polyhedral results for the three variants by new classes of facet-defining valid inequalities and unified lifting results. For this, we study the restriction of the problems to a cut of the network. First, we show … Read more

Graph Modeling for Quadratic Assignment Problem Associated with the Hypercube

In the paper we consider the quadratic ssignment problem arising from channel coding in communications where one coefficient matrix is the adjacency matrix of a hypercube in a finite dimensional space. By using the geometric structure of the hypercube, we first show that there exist at least $n$ different optimal solutions to the underlying QAPs. … Read more

Gap, cosum, and product properties of the $\theta’$ bound on the clique number

In a paper published 1978, McEliece, Rodemich and Rumsey improved Lov\’asz’ bound for the Maximum Clique Problem. This strengthening has become well-known under the name Lov\’asz-Schrijver bound and is usually denoted by $\theta’$. This article now deals with situations where this bound is not exact. To provide instances for which the gap between this bound … Read more

A Robust Branch-Cut-and-Price Algorithm for the Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem

This paper presents a robust branch-cut-and-price algorithm for the Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem (HFVRP), vehicles may have various capacities and fixed costs. The columns in the formulation are associated to $q$-routes, a relaxation of capacitated elementary routes that makes the pricing problem solvable in pseudo-polynomial time. Powerful new families of cuts are also proposed, … Read more