Model-Agnostic Approximation of Constrained Forest Problems

Abstract

Constrained Forest Problems (CFPs) as introduced by Goemans and Williamson in 1995 capture a wide range of network design problems with edge subsets as solutions, such as Minimum Spanning Tree, Steiner Forest, and Point-to-Point Connection. While individual CFPs have been studied extensively in individual computational models, a unified approach to solving general CFPs in multiple computational models has been lacking. Against this background, we present the shell-decomposition algorithm, a model-agnostic meta-algorithm that efficiently computes a (2+ε)-approximation to CFPs for a broad class of forest functions. The shell-decomposition algorithm isolates the problem-specific hardness of individual CFPs in a single computational subroutine, breaking the remainder of the computation into fundamental tasks that are studied extensively in a wide range of computational models. In contrast to prior work, our framework is compatible with the use of approximate distances.
To demonstrate the power and flexibility of this result, we instantiate our algorithm for three fundamental, NP-hard CFPs (Steiner Forest, Point-to-Point Connection, and Facility Placement and Connection) in three different computational models (Congest, PRAM, and Multi-Pass Streaming). For constant ε, we obtain the following (2+ε)-approximations in the Congest model: [(1)] 
1) For Steiner Forest specified via input components (SF-IC), where each node knows the identifier of one of k disjoint subsets of V (the input components), we achieve a deterministic (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n+D+k) rounds, where D is the hop diameter of the graph, significantly improving over the state of the art. 
2) For Steiner Forest specified via symmetric connection requests (SF-SCR), where connection requests are issued to pairs of nodes u,v ∈ V, we leverage randomized equality testing to reduce the running time to 𝒪̃(√n+D), succeeding with high probability. 
3) For Point-to-Point Connection, we provide a (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n+D) rounds. 
4) For Facility Placement and Connection, a relative of non-metric Uncapacitated Facility Location, we obtain a (2+ε)-approximation in 𝒪̃(√n + D) rounds.  We further show how to replace the √n+D term by the complexity of solving Partwise Aggregation, achieving (near-)universal optimality in any setting in which a solution to Partwise Aggregation in near-shortcut-quality time is known. Notably, all of our concrete results can be derived with relative ease once our model-agnostic meta-algorithm has been specified. This demonstrates the power of our modularization approach to algorithm design.