This paper introduces interdiction branching, a new branching method for binary integer programs that is designed to overcome the difficulties encountered in solving problems for which branching on variables is inherently weak. Unlike traditional methods, selection of the disjunction in interdiction branching takes into account the best feasible solution found so far. In particular, the … Read more
Branch-and-Bound (B&B) is perhaps the most fundamental algorithm for the global solution of convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problems. It is well-known that carrying out branching in a non-simplistic manner can greatly enhance the practicality of B&B in the context of Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP). No detailed study of branching has heretofore been carried out … Read more
Gunluk and Pochet [O. Gunluk, Y. Pochet: Mixing mixed integer inequalities. Mathematical Programming 90(2001) 429-457] proposed a procedure to mix mixed integer rounding (MIR) inequalities. The mixed MIR inequalities define the convex hull of the mixing set $\{(y^1,\ldots,y^m,v) \in Z^m \times R_+:\alpha_1 y^i + v \geq \b_i,i=1,\ldots,m\}$ and can also be used to generate valid … Read more
Symmetry plays an important role in optimization. The usual approach to cope with symmetry in discrete optimization is to try to eliminate it by introducing artificial symmetry-breaking conditions into the problem, and/or by using an ad-hoc search strategy. In this paper we argue that symmetry is instead a beneficial feature that we should preserve and … Read more
This paper introduces the PuLP library, an open source package that allows mathematical programs to be described in the Python computer programming language. PuLP is a high-level modelling library that leverages the power of the Python language and allows the user to create programs using expressions that are natural to the Python language, avoiding special … Read more
In this paper we study the relationship between valid inequalities for mixed-integer sets, lattice-free sets associated with these inequalities and the multi-branch split cuts introduced by Li and Richard (2008). By analyzing $n$-dimensional lattice-free sets, we prove that for every integer $n$ there exists a positive integer $t$ such that every facet-defining inequality of the … Read more
Traffic in communication networks fluctuates heavily over time. Thus, to avoid capacity bottlenecks, operators highly overestimate the traffic volume during network planning. In this paper we consider telecommunication network design under traffic uncertainty, adapting the robust optimization approach of Bertsimas and Sim (2004). We present three different mathematical formulations for this problem, provide valid inequalities, … Read more
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
This paper introduces a fundamental family of unbounded convex sets that arises in the context of non-convex mixed-integer quadratic programming. It is shown that any mixed-integer quadratic program with linear constraints can be reduced to the minimisation of a linear function over a set in the family. Some fundamental properties of the convex sets are … Read more
We are given a digraph G = (N, A), where each arc is colored with one among k given colors. We look for a spanning arborescence T of G rooted at a given node and having minimum changeover cost. We call this the Minimum Changeover Cost Arborescence problem. To the authors’ knowledge, it is a … Read more