Abstract
In this paper, we consider the Target Set Selection problem: given a graph and a threshold value 
for each vertex v of the graph, find a minimum size vertex-subset to “activate” s.t. all the vertices of the graph are activated at the end of the propagation process. A vertex v is activated during the propagation process if at least 
of its neighbors are activated. This problem models several practical issues like faults in distributed networks or word-to-mouth recommendations in social networks. We show that for any functions f and ρ this problem cannot be approximated within a factor of ρ(k) in f(k) ·n
O(1) time, unless FPT = W[P], even for restricted thresholds (namely constant and majority thresholds). We also study the cardinality constraint maximization and minimization versions of the problem for which we prove similar hardness results.
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Bazgan, C., Chopin, M., Nichterlein, A., Sikora, F. (2014). Parameterized Inapproximability of Target Set Selection and Generalizations. In: Beckmann, A., Csuhaj-Varjú, E., Meer, K. (eds) Language, Life, Limits. CiE 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8493. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08019-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08019-2_2
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