Given a graph G = (V,E) with non-negative real edge lengths and an integer parameter k, the (uncapacitated) Min-Max Tree Cover problem seeks to find a set of at most k trees which together span V and each tree is a subgraph of G. The objective is to minimize the maximum length among all the trees. In this paper, we consider a capacitated generalization of the above and give the first constant factor approximation algorithm. In the capacitated version, there is a hard uniform capacity (λ) on the number of vertices a tree can cover. Our result extends to the rooted version of the problem, where we are given a set of k root vertices, R and each of the covering trees is required to include a distinct vertex in R as the root. Prior to our work, the only result known was a (2k-1)-approximation algorithm for the special case when the total number of vertices in the graph is kλ [Guttmann-Beck and Hassin, J. of Algorithms, 1997]. Our technique circumvents the difficulty of using the minimum spanning tree of the graph as a lower bound, which is standard for the uncapacitated version of the problem [Even et al.,OR Letters 2004] [Khani et al.,Algorithmica 2010]. Instead, we use Steiner trees that cover λ vertices along with an iterative refinement procedure that ensures that the output trees have low cost and the vertices are well distributed among the trees.
@InProceedings{das_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.55, author = {Das, Syamantak and Jain, Lavina and Kumar, Nikhil}, title = {{A Constant Factor Approximation for Capacitated Min-Max Tree Cover}}, booktitle = {Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2020)}, pages = {55:1--55:13}, series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)}, ISBN = {978-3-95977-164-1}, ISSN = {1868-8969}, year = {2020}, volume = {176}, editor = {Byrka, Jaros{\l}aw and Meka, Raghu}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.55}, URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-126581}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2020.55}, annote = {Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Graph Algorithms, Min-Max Tree Cover, Vehicle Routing, Steiner Tree} }
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