1. 1 Approximating Minimum Cost Steiner Forests Guy Kortsarz Rutgers University, Camden Joint work with Moran Feldman and Zeev Nutov

2. 2 (Undirected) Steiner Tree (ST) Instance: A graph G = (V,E), a cost function c: E   +, and a set D  V. Objective: Find a subgraph H  G of minimum cost connecting all nodes of D. Terminology: The nodes of D are called terminals, the other nodes are called Steiner nodes. Application Example Connecting all components in an printed circuit using minimum cost silver. 1 5 2 3 4 3 2 2 4 7 1 1 5 2 4 3 2 2 4 7 1 3

3. 3 Directed Steiner Tree (DST) Instance: A digraph G = (V,E), a cost function c: E   +, a root node r and a set D  V-r. Objective: Find a subgraph H  G of minimum cost connecting all nodes of D to r. Motivation: Asymmetric connectivity cost. a c b r f d e 3 6 4 3 5 2 2 4 9 D = {a, c, e} a c r f d e

4. 4 (Undirected) Steiner Forest (SF) Instance: A graph G = (V,E), a cost function c: E   +, and a set D  S  T of ordered node pairs of V. Objective: Find a subgraph H  G of minimum cost containing an s-t path the for every (s,t)  D. Motivation: Computer network has to connect each client to the servers it uses. D = {(a, d), (b, g), (c, e)} a c b g f d e h 13 5 48 7 1 2 45 2 4 i

5. 5 Problem 1: Directed Steiner Forest (DSF) Instance: A digraph G = (V,E), a cost function c: E   +, and a set D  S  T of ordered node pairs of V. Objective: Find a subgraph H  G of minimum cost containing an s-t path for every (s,t)  D. D = {(c, e), (d, b), (b, g)} 3 a c b e f dg 6 4 3 5 2 2 4 9 DSF a c b e f dg 6 4 3 5 2 2 4 9

6. 6 Problem 2: k-Directed Steiner Forest (k-DSF) Instance: Same as for k-DSF, with an integer 0 ≤ k ≤ |D|. Objective: Find a subgraph H  G of minimum cost containing an s-t path for (at least) k pairs (s,t)  D. 2-DSF D = {(c, e), (d, b), (b, g)} DSF a c b e f dg 6 4 3 5 2 2 4 9 a c b e f dg 6 4 3 5 2 2 4 9 2 3 a c b e f dg 6 4 3 5 2 4 9 k = 2

7. 7 All problems above also have a k version. The k version is never easier than the normal version, often it is significantly more difficult. Example: SF has a 2 approximation. k-SF has only O(min{k 1/2, n 1/2 }) approximation. DSF and k-DSF admit almost the same ratio. Problems Summary k-Versions UndirectedDirected Connecting all terminals to a root Steiner Tree (ST) Directed Steiner Tree (DST) Connecting pairs of nodes Steiner Forest (SF) Directed Steiner Forest (DSF)

8. 8 ProblemUndirectedDirected In terms of n In terms of k In terms of n In terms of k Steiner Tree 1.55 [RZ 00] O(n ε ) [CCCDG 99] O(k ε ) [CCCDG 99] k-Steiner Tree 2 [G 05] O(n ε ) [CCCDG 99] O(k ε ) [CCCDG 99] Steiner Forest 2 [AKR 95] O(n 1+ε )O(k 1/2+ε ) [CEGS 08] k-Steiner Forest O(n 1/2 ) [GHNR 07] O(k 1/2 ) [GHNR 07] O(n 4/3 ) [CCCDG 99] O(k 2/3 ) [CCCDG 99] Surveying Current Results ProblemUndirectedDirected In terms of n In terms of k In terms of n In terms of k Steiner Tree 1.55 [RZ 00] O(n ε ) [CCCDG 99] O(k ε ) [CCCDG 99] k-Steiner Tree 2 [G 05] O(n ε ) [CCCDG 99] O(k ε ) [CCCDG 99] Steiner Forest 2 [AKR 95] O(n 4/5+ε ) O(n 1+ε ) O(k 1/2+ε ) * [CEGS 08] k-Steiner Forest O(n 1/2 ) [GHNR 07] O(k 1/2 ) [GHNR 07] O(n 1+ε ) O(n 4/3 ) O(k 1/2+ε ) O(k 2/3 ) Theorem 2 DSF admits an O(n 4/5+ε ) approximation scheme. Theorem 1 k-DSF admits a combinatorial O(k 1/2+ε ) approximation scheme.

9. 9 Junction Trees Definition A junction-tree is a union of: An in-going tree rooted at r An out-going tree rooted at r r It is easy to see that in every graph there is a junction tree of density: k 1/2 ∙ opt/k [CEGS 08]

10. 10 Algorithm ID Problem:Direct Steiner Forest Algorithm Type:Greedy Algorithm Augmentations Used:Junction Trees Approximation Ratio:O(k 1/2+ε )

11. 11 Algorithm for DSF of [CEGS 08] Difficulty Finding the best junction tree is NPC, it must be approximated. Solution Reduction to a problem called Group Steiner Forest (GSF). Approximating GSF via an LP-relaxation. Approximates best junction tree to a factor of O(k ε ). The LP is suitable only for the case of DSF (i.e. k = |D|). What’s Now? What do we know about junction trees? There is a good density junction tree in every instance of k-DSF.  Nobody knows how to find such a junction tree in the general case.  An algorithm for k-DSF requires using simpler structures.

12. Theorem 1 k-DSF admits an O(k 1/2+ε ) approximation scheme. Junction Star-Tree: A union of disjoint: In-going star from S to r Out-going tree from r to T r

13. 13 Algorithm ID Problem:k-Direct Steiner Forest Algorithm Type:Greedy Algorithm Augmentations Used:Junction Star-Trees Approximation Ratio:O(k 1/2+ε )

14. 14 Algorithm for k-DSF Reductions Used Augmentations Finding Via a reduction to k-DST. Remainder: k-Directed Steiner Tree (k-DS T ) Instance: A digraph G = (V, E) with edge costs {c e :e  E}, a root node r, a set U  V of terminals, and an integer k. Objective: Find a min-cost subtree T of G rooted at r spanning (at least) k terminals. Approximation: We are interested in the density version: “Find the best density tree”. It has an O(k ε ) approximation scheme by [CCCDG 99]. AssumptionJustification Metric cost graph.Using metric completion. No edge enters a node of S or leaves a node of T. Create a new source and terminal for every node, connect them to the node using zero cost edges. No node is involved in more than one pair in D. Multiply nodes involved in multiple demand pairs.

15. 15 Finding a good density junction star-tree A junction star-tree:A tree rooted at r: t1t1 t2t2 t3t3 t4t4 t5t5 t' 1 t' 2 t' 3 t' 4 t' 5 r s1s1 s2s2 s3s3 s4s4 s5s5 t1t1 t2t2 t3t3 t4t4 t5t5 r Reduction to k-DST We guess r No other information about the junction star-tree is needed

16. 16 The Junction Star-Tree Theorem What we will show? If for every path P  Π we have c(P) ≥ opt/g, then the graph contains a junction star-tree of density at-most: Notation D’ – The set of k pairs from D that OPT connects. Π – A set of paths in OPT, one path connecting every pair of D’. g – A parameter whose value will be set eventually to (2k) 1/2. Theorem In every instance of k-DSF (after metric completion) there is a junction star-tree of density at most: (8k) 1/2 ∙ opt/k.

17. 17 The Junction Star-Tree Theorem (proof) Definitions P * (the truncated path of P) - The maximal subpath sv of P such that: c(P * ) ≤ opt/g Two truncated paths (possibly identical) collide if they share nodes Let Π * = {P * | P  Π} Lemma Π * can be partitioned into q ≤ g parts Q 1,…, Q q, such that in every part Q i there is a path P i * colliding with every path in Q i. Thus, there is a path colliding with ≥ k/q ≥ k/g paths. What is it good for? We got a “funnel” of at least k/g paths: Every node u of P i * can be made a root of a star. Adding each source s i connecting to the funnel in a node before u costs only O(opt/g). Pi*Pi* s1s1 s2s2 s3s3 s4s4 u u s1s1 s3s3

18. 18 The Junction Star-Tree Theorem (proof) Construction (Informal) Let P * be the truncated path colliding with at-least k/g truncated paths. And let r 1, r 2, …, r d be the nodes of P * in reverse order. For each r i we grow a minimal tree T i  OPT spanning every terminal (of the paths colliding with P*) reachable from r i not covered by previous trees. Lemma (Informal) The trees we grow has the following properties: 1.The trees are edge disjoint. 2.Every terminal (of the paths colliding with P * ) appears in exactly one tree. 3.The sources corresponding to the terminals of T i can be added to the star of r i. T5T5 T4T4 T3T3 T2T2 T1T1 The idea is that the stars do not pay too much for every source, and the trees divide both the terminals and the cost of OPT.

19. 19 The Junction Star-Tree Theorem (proof) Construction Get a junction star-tree J i from T i by connecting (using a single edge) the sources corresponding to the terminals of T i to r i. Every new edge is a shortcut of two truncated paths, its cost is at-most 2opt/g. Bounding the density All the trees together connect p  k/g pairs. The cost of all the junction star-trees together is: Using an averaging argument, there must be a tree of density:

20. 20 Algorithm Summary What did we do? Showed how to find approximately optimal junction star-tree, via a reduction to k-DST. Proved that every metric graph contains a junction star-tree of density O(k 1/2 ) ∙ opt/k. What do we get? By using junction star-trees as augmentations, we get an O(k 1/2+ε )-approximation algorithm for k-DST. Comparison with the algorithm of [CEGS 08] Finding a good augmentation: Easy, works for k-DSF as well. Proving existence of a good augmentation: Non-trivial. Advantage: Combinatorial algorithm, does not solve LPs.

21. Theorem 2 DSF admits an O(n 4/5+ε ) approximation scheme.

22. 22 Algorithm Overview Notation A path is short if its length ≤ opt/n 4/5, otherwise it is long (we assume opt is known) U(s,t) – The set of nodes which have both short paths from s, and short paths to t. A pair (s, t)  D is good if |U(s,t)| ≥ n 2/5, and bad otherwise. s v1v1 v2v2 vtvt t U(s,t)U(s,t) Short Paths Few nodes  Bad Pair Many nodes  Good Pair

23. 23 Algorithm Overview - Continue Connecting Good Pairs Put every node v into a set R with probability p = 2ln k / n 2/5. Connect using short paths the nodes of every good pair to every node of R, if possible. Connecting Bad Pairs Henceforth, we assume that D contains only bad pairs. Let L  D be the set of pairs connected by a long path in OPT. Two cases:  Case 1: |L| ≥ ½|D|: We show there is a good density junction tree.  Case 2: |L| < ½|D|: We show that a good augmentation can be achieved by rounding the solution of an LP connecting short distance pairs. Plan:  Use a greedy algorithm for connecting the bad pairs.  In every iteration use the better of the two types of augmentations. A pair is connected if R  U(s,t)   Pr[R  U(s,t) =  ] ≤ 1/k 2 for every good pair (s,t)  D By the union bound, all good pairs are connected with probability 1-1/k By the Chernoff bound, with probability 1-1/k, the cost is no more than:

24. 24 Case 1: |L| ≥ ½|D| (reduction to [CEGS 08]) The total cost of all paths associated with L: |L|∙opt/n 4/5 There is an edge e in OPT involved in at-least |L|/n 4/5 paths. Let J denote the union of these paths:  J is a subgraph of OPT, its cost is at-most opt.  J connects at-least |L|/n 4/5 pairs of D.  J is a junction tree, of density: opt/|D| ∙ O(n 4/5 ) The method of [CEGS 08], let us find a junction tree of density: Case 2: |L| < ½|D| (LP-rounding) This LP asks to connect at least half of the bad pairs using short paths:  (i) – The set of short paths connecting the i-th bad pair.  – The set of short paths connecting any bad pair. (An average flow of ½ or more) (The flow of a pair is the sum of the flow paths) (Pay for edges along the flow path)

25. 25 Using the LP We round the x e variables: We get an integral solution of cost: O(n 4/5 ) ∙ opt. At least |D|/3 of the bad pairs has flow of ¼ or more, because the sum of all flows must be at least |D|/2, these pairs are connected in the integral solution. The density of the integral solution is at most: O(n 4/5 )∙opt/|D| Consider a cut in the graph separating the pair (s, t): s1s1 s2s2 spsp t1t1 t2t2 tqtq ts Since (s,t) is a bad pair, we know: p+q < n 2/5. The number of edges crossing the cut is bounded by p∙q < n 4/5 /4. The flow is at least ¼, some edge crossing the cut must have flow 1/n 4/5. Difficulty: The number of variables might be exponential. Solution: Approximate separation oracle for the dual program. Derives a solution of cost opt∙(1+ε) for the LP in polynomial time.

26. 26 Open Questions Regarding our algorithm for DSF:  Can its ratio be improved?  Can it be extended to k-DSF as well?  A ratio better than O(n 1/3 ) is unlikely, due to a reduction to LABEL-COVER max [DK 99]. Generalizations:  DSF and k-DSF have a generalization where every pair (s,t)  D has a demand r(s,t) and it must be connected by r(s,t) edge disjoint paths.  Can any of the results presented be extended to this generalization of the corresponding problem?  No results are known for these generalizations, even when the demands are limited to 2.