Rank aggregation in cyclic sequences

In this paper we propose the problem of finding the cyclic sequence which best represents a set of cyclic sequences. Given a set of elements and a precedence cost matrix we look for the cyclic sequence of the elements which is at minimum distance from all the ranks when the permutation metric distance is the … Read more

Coercive polynomials: Stability, order of growth, and Newton polytopes

In this article we introduce a stability concept for the coercivity of multivariate polynomials $f \in \mathbb{R}[x]$. In particular, we consider perturbations of $f$ by polynomials up to the so-called degree of stable coercivity, and we analyze this stability concept in terms of the corresponding Newton polytopes at infinity. For coercive polynomials $f \in \mathbb{R}[x]$ … Read more

On the Lovasz Theta Function and Some Variants

The Lovasz theta function of a graph is a well-known upper bound on the stability number. It can be computed efficiently by solving a semidefinite program (SDP). Actually, one can solve either of two SDPs, one due to Lovasz and the other to Groetschel et al. The former SDP is often thought to be preferable … Read more

Sum of Squares Basis Pursuit with Linear and Second Order Cone Programming

We devise a scheme for solving an iterative sequence of linear programs (LPs) or second order cone programs (SOCPs) to approximate the optimal value of any semidefinite program (SDP) or sum of squares (SOS) program. The first LP and SOCP-based bounds in the sequence come from the recent work of Ahmadi and Majumdar on diagonally … Read more

Extended Formulations for Vertex Cover

The vertex cover polytopes of graphs do not admit polynomial-size extended formulations. This motivates the search for polyhedral analogues to approximation algorithms and fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithms. While the polyhedral approximability of vertex cover has been studied, we know of no extended formulations parameterized by the size of the vertex cover. To this end, we … Read more

Location Routing Problems on Simple Graphs

This paper addresses combined location/routing problems defined on trees. Several problems are studied, which consider service demand both at the vertices and the edges of the input tree. Greedy type optimal heuristics are presented for the cases when all vertices have to be visited and facilities have no set-up costs. Facilities set-up costs can also … Read more

Optimization over Sparse Symmetric Sets via a Nonmonotone Projected Gradient Method

We consider the problem of minimizing a Lipschitz differentiable function over a class of sparse symmetric sets that has wide applications in engineering and science. For this problem, it is known that any accumulation point of the classical projected gradient (PG) method with a constant stepsize $1/L$ satisfies the $L$-stationarity optimality condition that was introduced … Read more

Detecting Almost Symmetries of Graphs

We present a branch-and-bound framework to solve the following problem: Given a graph G and an integer k, find a subgraph of G formed by removing no more than k edges that contains the most symmetry. We call symmetries on such a subgraph “almost symmetries” of G. We implement our branch-and-bound framework in PEBBL to … Read more

Algorithms for the power-$ Steiner tree problem in the Euclidean plane

We study the problem of constructing minimum power-$p$ Euclidean $k$-Steiner trees in the plane. The problem is to find a tree of minimum cost spanning a set of given terminals where, as opposed to the minimum spanning tree problem, at most $k$ additional nodes (Steiner points) may be introduced anywhere in the plane. The cost … Read more

Linear conic formulations for two-party correlations and values of nonlocal games

In this work we study the sets of two-party correlations generated from a Bell scenario involving two spatially separated systems with respect to various physical models. We show that the sets of classical, quantum, no-signaling and unrestricted correlations can be expressed as projections of affine sections of appropriate convex cones. As a by-product, we identify … Read more