No Arabic abstract
Many distributed optimization algorithms achieve existentially-optimal running times, meaning that there exists some pathological worst-case topology on which no algorithm can do better. Still, most networks of interest allow for exponentially faster algorithms. This motivates two questions: (1) What network topology parameters determine the complexity of distributed optimization? (2) Are there universally-optimal algorithms that are as fast as possible on every topology? We resolve these 25-year-old open problems in the known-topology setting (i.e., supported CONGEST) for a wide class of global network optimization problems including MST, $(1+varepsilon)$-min cut, various approximate shortest paths problems, sub-graph connectivity, etc. In particular, we provide several (equivalent) graph parameters and show they are tight universal lower bounds for the above problems, fully characterizing their inherent complexity. Our results also imply that algorithms based on the low-congestion shortcut framework match the above lower bound, making them universally optimal if shortcuts are efficiently approximable. We leverage a recent result in hop-constrained oblivious routing to show this is the case if the topology is known -- giving universally-optimal algorithms for all above problems.
The performance of distributed and data-centric applications often critically depends on the interconnecting network. Applications are hence modeled as virtual networks, also accounting for resource demands on links. At the heart of provisioning such virtual networks lies the NP-hard Virtual Network Embedding Problem (VNEP): how to jointly map the virtual nodes and links onto a physical substrate network at minimum cost while obeying capacities. This paper studies the VNEP in the light of parameterized complexity. We focus on tree topology substrates, a case often encountered in practice and for which the VNEP remains NP-hard. We provide the first fixed-parameter algorithm for the VNEP with running time $O(3^r (s+r^2))$ for requests and substrates of $r$ and $s$ nodes, respectively. In a computational study our algorithm yields running time improvements in excess of 200x compared to state-of-the-art integer programming approaches. This makes it comparable in speed to the well-established ViNE heuristic while providing optimal solutions. We complement our algorithmic study with hardness results for the VNEP and related problems.
The minimum degree spanning tree (MDST) problem requires the construction of a spanning tree $T$ for graph $G=(V,E)$ with $n$ vertices, such that the maximum degree $d$ of $T$ is the smallest among all spanning trees of $G$. In this paper, we present two new distributed approximation algorithms for the MDST problem. Our first result is a randomized distributed algorithm that constructs a spanning tree of maximum degree $hat d = O(dlog{n})$. It requires $O((D + sqrt{n}) log^2 n)$ rounds (w.h.p.), where $D$ is the graph diameter, which matches (within log factors) the optimal round complexity for the related minimum spanning tree problem. Our second result refines this approximation factor by constructing a tree with maximum degree $hat d = O(d + log{n})$, though at the cost of additional polylogarithmic factors in the round complexity. Although efficient approximation algorithms for the MDST problem have been known in the sequential setting since the 1990s, our results are first efficient distributed solutions for this problem.
We consider the distributed version of the Multiple Knapsack Problem (MKP), where $m$ items are to be distributed amongst $n$ processors, each with a knapsack. We propose different distributed approximation algorithms with a tradeoff between time and message complexities. The algorithms are based on the greedy approach of assigning the best item to the knapsack with the largest capacity. These algorithms obtain a solution with a bound of $frac{1}{n+1}$ times the optimum solution, with either $mathcal{O}left(mlog nright)$ time and $mathcal{O}left(m nright)$ messages, or $mathcal{O}left(mright)$ time and $mathcal{O}left(mn^{2}right)$ messages.
This paper gives poly-logarithmic-round, distributed D-approximation algorithms for covering problems with submodular cost and monotone covering constraints (Submodular-cost Covering). The approximation ratio D is the maximum number of variables in any constraint. Special cases include Covering Mixed Integer Linear Programs (CMIP), and Weighted Vertex Cover (with D=2). Via duality, the paper also gives poly-logarithmic-round, distributed D-approximation algorithms for Fractional Packing linear programs (where D is the maximum number of constraints in which any variable occurs), and for Max Weighted c-Matching in hypergraphs (where D is the maximum size of any of the hyperedges; for graphs D=2). The paper also gives parallel (RNC) 2-approximation algorithms for CMIP with two variables per constraint and Weighted Vertex Cover. The algorithms are randomized. All of the approximation ratios exactly match those of comparable centralized algorithms.
In this paper we give fast distributed graph algorithms for detecting and listing small subgraphs, and for computing or approximating the girth. Our algorithms improve upon the state of the art by polynomial factors, and for girth, we obtain an constant-time algorithm for additive +1 approximation in the Congested Clique, and the first parametrized algorithm for exact computation in CONGEST. In the Congested Clique, we develop a technique for learning small neighborhoods, and apply it to obtain an $O(1)$-round algorithm that computes the girth with only an additive +1 error. Next, we introduce a new technique (the partition tree technique) allowing for efficiently and deterministically listing all copies of any subgraph, improving upon the state-of the-art for non-dense graphs. We give two applications of this technique: First we show that for constant $k$, $C_{2k}$-detection can be solved in $O(1)$ rounds in the Congested Clique, improving on prior work which used matrix multiplication and had polynomial round complexity. Second, we show that in triangle-free graphs, the girth can be exactly computed in time polynomially faster than the best known bounds for general graphs. In CONGEST, we describe a new approach for finding cycles, and apply it in two ways: first we show a fast parametrized algorithm for girth with round complexity $tilde{O}(min(gcdot n^{1-1/Theta(g)},n))$ for any girth $g$; and second, we show how to find small even-length cycles $C_{2k}$ for $k = 3,4,5$ in $O(n^{1-1/k})$ rounds, which is a polynomial improvement upon the previous running times. Finally, using our improved $C_6$-freeness algorithm and the barrier on proving lower bounds on triangle-freeness of Eden et al., we show that improving the current $tildeOmega(sqrt{n})$ lower bound for $C_6$-freeness of Korhonen et al. by any polynomial factor would imply strong circuit complexity lower bounds.