Submodular Maximization with Matroid and Packing Constraints in Parallel


Abstract in English

We consider the problem of maximizing the multilinear extension of a submodular function subject a single matroid constraint or multiple packing constraints with a small number of adaptive rounds of evaluation queries. We obtain the first algorithms with low adaptivity for submodular maximization with a matroid constraint. Our algorithms achieve a $1-1/e-epsilon$ approximation for monotone functions and a $1/e-epsilon$ approximation for non-monotone functions, which nearly matches the best guarantees known in the fully adaptive setting. The number of rounds of adaptivity is $O(log^2{n}/epsilon^3)$, which is an exponential speedup over the existing algorithms. We obtain the first parallel algorithm for non-monotone submodular maximization subject to packing constraints. Our algorithm achieves a $1/e-epsilon$ approximation using $O(log(n/epsilon) log(1/epsilon) log(n+m)/ epsilon^2)$ parallel rounds, which is again an exponential speedup in parallel time over the existing algorithms. For monotone functions, we obtain a $1-1/e-epsilon$ approximation in $O(log(n/epsilon)log(m)/epsilon^2)$ parallel rounds. The number of parallel rounds of our algorithm matches that of the state of the art algorithm for solving packing LPs with a linear objective. Our results apply more generally to the problem of maximizing a diminishing returns submodular (DR-submodular) function.

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