Abstract
The cycle cover problem is a combinatorial optimization problem, which is to find a minimum cost cover of a given weighted digraph by a family of vertex-disjoint cycles. We consider a special case of this problem, where, for a fixed number k, all feasible cycle covers are restricted to be of the size k. We call this case the minimum weight k-size cycle cover problem (Min-k-SCCP). Since each cycle in a cover can be treated as a tour of some vehicle visiting an appropriate set of clients, the problem in question is closely related to the vehicle routing problem. Moreover, the studied problem is a natural generalization of the well-known traveling salesman problem (TSP), since the Min-1-SCCP is equivalent to the TSP. We show that, for any fixed \(k>1\), the Min-k-SCCP is strongly NP-hard in the general setting. The Metric and Euclidean special cases of the problem are intractable as well. Also, we prove that the Metric Min-k-SCCP belongs to APX class and has a 2-approximation polynomial-time algorithm, even if k is not fixed. For the Euclidean Min-2-SCCP in the plane, we present a polynomial-time approximation scheme extending the famous result obtained by S. Arora for the Euclidean TSP. Actually, for any fixed \(c>1\), the scheme finds a \((1+1/c)\)-approximate solution of the Euclidean Min-2-SCCP in \(O(n^3(\log n)^{O(c)})\) time.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
We call a cycle C empty if C is a loop.
Other cases can be considered similarly.
References
Arora, S.: Polynomial-time approximation schemes for euclidean traveling salesman and other geometric problems. J. ACM 45, 753–782 (1998)
Baburin, A., Della Croce, F., Gimadi, E.K., Glazkov, Y.V., Paschos, V.T.: Approximation algorithms for the 2-peripatetic salesman problem with edge weights 1 and 2. Discrete Appl. Math. 157(9), 1988–1992 (2009)
Bektas, T.: The multiple traveling salesman problem: an overview of formulations and solution procedures. Omega 34, 209–219 (2006). doi:10.1016/j.omega.2004.10.004
Bläser, M., Manthey, B.: Approximating maximum weight cycle covers in directed graphs with weights zero and one. Algorithmica 42, 121–139 (2005). doi:10.1007/s00453-004-1131-0
Bläser, M., Manthey, B., Sgall, J.: An improved approximation algorithm for the asymmetric TSP with strengthened triangle inequality. J. Discrete Algorithms 4, 623–632 (2006). doi:10.1016/j.jda.2005.07.004
Bläser, M., Siebert, B.: Computing cycle covers without short cycles. In: Algorithms ESA 2001, pp. 368–379. Springer, Berlin (2001)
Chandran, L.S., Ram, L.S.: On the relationship between ATSP and the cycle cover problem. Theor. Comput. Sci. 370, 218–228 (2007). doi:10.1016/j.tcs.2006.10.026
Christofides, N.: Worst-case analysis of a new heuristic for the traveling salesman problem. In: Symposium on New Directions and Recent Results in Algorithms and Complexity, p. 441 (1975)
Cormen, T.H., Stein, C., Rivest, R.L., Leiserson, C.E.: Introduction to Algorithms, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York (2001)
Dantzig, G.B., Ramser, J.H.: The truck dispatching problem. Manag. Sci. 6(1), 80–91 (1959)
De Kort, J.: Lower bounds for symmetric k-peripatetic salesman problems. Optimization 20, 113–122 (1991)
Finkel, R.A., Bentley, J.L.: Quad trees: a data structure for retrieval on composite keys. Acta Inf. 4, 1–9 (1974). doi:10.1007/BF00288933
Garey, M.R., Johnson, D.S.: Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. W. H. Freeman & Co., New York (1979)
Gimadi, E.: Asymptotically optimal algorithm for finding one and two edge-disjoint traveling salesman routes of maximal weight in euclidean space. Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 263, S57–S67 (2008)
Golden, B., Raghavan, S., Wasil, E.A.: The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces Series, vol. 43. Springer, Berlin (2008)
Jung, H.: Über die kleinste kugel, die eine räumliche figur einschliesst. J. Reine Angew. Math. 123, 241–257 (1901)
Krarup, J.: The peripatetic salesman and some related unsolved problems. In: Roy, B. (ed.) Combinatorial Programming: Methods and Applications, pp. 173–178. Springer, Netherlands (1975)
Kumar, S., Panneerselvam, R.: A survey on the vehicle routing problem and its variants. Intell. Inf. Manag. 4, 66–74 (2012). doi:10.4236/iim.2012.43010
Manthey, B.: On approximating restricted cycle covers. SIAM J. Comput. 38, 181–206 (2008). doi:10.1137/060676003
Manthey, B.: Minimum-weight cycle covers and their approximability. Discrete Appl. Math. 157, 1470–1480 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.dam.2008.10.005
Papadimitriou, C.: Euclidean TSP is NP-complete. Theor. Comput. Sci. 4(3), 237–244 (1977)
Sahni, S., Gonzales, T.: P-complete approximation problems. J. ACM 23, 555–565 (1976)
Szwarcfiter, J., Wilson, L.: The cycle cover problem. Tech. Rep. 131, University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1979)
Toth, P., Vigo, D. (eds.): The Vehicle Routing Problem. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia (2001)
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant No. 14-11-00109.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khachay, M., Neznakhina, K. Approximability of the minimum-weight k-size cycle cover problem. J Glob Optim 66, 65–82 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10898-015-0391-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10898-015-0391-3