Operations that preserve the covering property of the lifting region

We contribute to the theory for minimal liftings of cut-generating functions. In particular, we give three operations that preserve the so-called covering property of certain structured cut-generating functions. This has the consequence of vastly expanding the set of undominated cut generating functions which can be used computationally, compared to known examples from the literature. The … Read more

Planar Maximum Coverage Location Problem with Partial Coverage and Rectangular Demand and Service Zones

We study the planar maximum coverage location problem (MCLP) with rectilinear distance and rectangular demand zones in the case where “partial coverage” is allowed in its true sense, i.e., when covering only part of a demand zone is allowed and the coverage accrued as a result of this is proportional to the demand of the … Read more

Solving bilevel combinatorial optimization as bilinear min-max optimization via a branch-and-cut algorithm

In this paper, we propose a generic branch-and -cut algorithm for a special class of bi-level combinatorial optimization problems. Namely, we study such problems that can be reformulated as bilinear min-max combinatorial optimization problems. We show that the reformulation can be efficiently solved by a branch-and-cut algorithm whose cuts represent the inner maximization feasibility set. … Read more

Integer programming formulations for the elementary shortest path problem

Given a directed graph G = (V, A) with arbitrary arc costs, the Elementary Shortest Path Problem (ESPP) consists of finding a minimum-cost path between two nodes s and t such that each node of G is visited at most once. If the costs induce negative cycles on G, the problem is NP-hard. In this … Read more

Approximation algorithms for the Transportation Problem with Market Choice and related models

Given facilities with capacities and clients with penalties and demands, the transportation problem with market choice consists in finding the minimum-cost way to partition the clients into unserved clients, paying the penalties, and into served clients, paying the transportation cost to serve them. We give polynomial-time reductions from this problem and variants to the (un)capacitated … Read more

A Tight Lower Bound for the Adjacent Quadratic Assignment Problem

In this paper we address the Adjacent Quadratic Assignment Problem (AQAP) which is a variant of the QAP where the cost coefficient matrix has a particular structure. Motivated by strong lower bounds obtained by applying Reformulation Linearization Technique (RLT) to the classical QAP, we propose two special RLT representations for the problem. The first is … Read more

Lower Bounds for the Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree Problem Based on Reduced Cost Computation

The Minimum Spanning Tree Problem (MSTP) is one of the most known combinatorial optimization problems. It concerns the determination of a minimum edge-cost subgraph spanning all the vertices of a given connected graph. The Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree Problem (QMSTP) is a variant of the MST whose cost considers also the interaction between every pair … Read more

Tight extended formulations for independent set

This paper describes tight extended formulations for independent set. The first formulation is for arbitrary independence systems and has size $O(n+\mu)$, where $\mu$ denotes the number of inclusion-wise maximal independent sets. Consequently, the extension complexity of the independent set polytope of graphs is $O(1.4423^n)$. The size $O(2^\tw n)$ of the second extended formulation depends on … Read more

On a nonconvex MINLP formulation of the Euclidean Steiner tree problems in n-space

The Euclidean Steiner Tree Problem in dimension greater than two is notoriously difficult. The successful methods for exact solution are not based on mathematical-optimization methods — rather, they involve very sophisticated enumeration. There are two types of mathematical-optimization formulations in the literature, and it is an understatement to say that neither scales well enough to … Read more

On the exact separation of rank inequalities for the maximum stable set problem

When addressing the maximum stable set problem on a graph G = (V,E), rank inequalities prescribe that, for any subgraph G[U] induced by U ⊆ V , at most as many vertices as the stability number of G[U] can be part of a stable set of G. These inequalities are very general, as many of … Read more