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Documents authored by Vargas Koch, Laura

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.34
On the Approximability of Train Routing and the Min-Max Disjoint Paths Problem

Authors: Umang Bhaskar, Katharina Eickhoff, Lennart Kauther, Jannik Matuschke, Britta Peis, and Laura Vargas Koch

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 351, 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)

Abstract
In train routing, the headway is the minimum distance that must be maintained between successive trains for safety and robustness. We introduce a model for train routing that requires a fixed headway to be maintained between trains, and study the problem of minimizing the makespan, i.e., the arrival time of the last train, in a single-source single-sink network. For this problem, we first show that there exists an optimal solution where trains move in convoys - that is, the optimal paths for any two trains are either the same or are arc-disjoint. Via this insight, we are able to reduce the approximability of our train routing problem to that of the min-max disjoint paths problem, which asks for a collection of disjoint paths where the maximum length of any path in the collection is as small as possible. While min-max disjoint paths inherits a strong inapproximability result on directed acyclic graphs from the multi-level bottleneck assignment problem, we show that a natural greedy composition approach yields a logarithmic approximation in the number of disjoint paths for series-parallel graphs. We also present an alternative analysis of this approach that yields a guarantee depending on how often the decomposition tree of the series-parallel graph alternates between series and parallel compositions on any root-leaf path.
Cite as

Umang Bhaskar, Katharina Eickhoff, Lennart Kauther, Jannik Matuschke, Britta Peis, and Laura Vargas Koch. On the Approximability of Train Routing and the Min-Max Disjoint Paths Problem. In 33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 351, pp. 34:1-34:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{bhaskar_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2025.34,
  author =	{Bhaskar, Umang and Eickhoff, Katharina and Kauther, Lennart and Matuschke, Jannik and Peis, Britta and Vargas Koch, Laura},
  title =	{{On the Approximability of Train Routing and the Min-Max Disjoint Paths Problem}},
  booktitle =	{33rd Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2025)},
  pages =	{34:1--34:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-395-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{351},
  editor =	{Benoit, Anne and Kaplan, Haim and Wild, Sebastian and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.34},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-245029},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2025.34},
  annote =	{Keywords: Train Routing, Scheduling, Approximation Algorithms, Flows over Time, Min-Max Disjoint Paths}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.7
Techniques for Generalized Colorful k-Center Problems

Authors: Georg Anegg, Laura Vargas Koch, and Rico Zenklusen

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 244, 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)

Abstract
Fair clustering enjoyed a surge of interest recently. One appealing way of integrating fairness aspects into classical clustering problems is by introducing multiple covering constraints. This is a natural generalization of the robust (or outlier) setting, which has been studied extensively and is amenable to a variety of classic algorithmic techniques. In contrast, for the case of multiple covering constraints (the so-called colorful setting), specialized techniques have only been developed recently for k-Center clustering variants, which is also the focus of this paper. While prior techniques assume covering constraints on the clients, they do not address additional constraints on the facilities, which has been extensively studied in non-colorful settings. In this paper, we present a quite versatile framework to deal with various constraints on the facilities in the colorful setting, by combining ideas from the iterative greedy procedure for Colorful k-Center by Inamdar and Varadarajan with new ingredients. To exemplify our framework, we show how it leads, for a constant number γ of colors, to the first constant-factor approximations for both Colorful Matroid Supplier with respect to a linear matroid and Colorful Knapsack Supplier. In both cases, we readily get an O(2^γ)-approximation. Moreover, for Colorful Knapsack Supplier, we show that it is possible to obtain constant approximation guarantees that are independent of the number of colors γ, as long as γ = O(1), which is needed to obtain a polynomial running time. More precisely, we obtain a 7-approximation by extending a technique recently introduced by Jia, Sheth, and Svensson for Colorful k-Center.
Cite as

Georg Anegg, Laura Vargas Koch, and Rico Zenklusen. Techniques for Generalized Colorful k-Center Problems. In 30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 244, pp. 7:1-7:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{anegg_et_al:LIPIcs.ESA.2022.7,
  author =	{Anegg, Georg and Vargas Koch, Laura and Zenklusen, Rico},
  title =	{{Techniques for Generalized Colorful k-Center Problems}},
  booktitle =	{30th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA 2022)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-247-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{244},
  editor =	{Chechik, Shiri and Navarro, Gonzalo and Rotenberg, Eva and Herman, Grzegorz},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-169458},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ESA.2022.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Approximation Algorithms, Fair Clustering, Colorful k-Center}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2018.13
Oligopolistic Competitive Packet Routing

Authors: Britta Peis, Bjoern Tauer, Veerle Timmermans, and Laura Vargas Koch

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 65, 18th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2018)

Abstract
Oligopolistic competitive packet routing games model situations in which traffic is routed in discrete units through a network over time. We study a game-theoretic variant of packet routing, where in contrast to classical packet routing, we are lacking a central authority to decide on an oblivious routing protocol. Instead, selfish acting decision makers ("players") control a certain amount of traffic each, which needs to be sent as fast as possible from a player-specific origin to a player-specific destination through a commonly used network. The network is represented by a directed graph, each edge of which being endowed with a transit time, as well as a capacity bounding the number of traffic units entering an edge simultaneously. Additionally, a priority policy on the set of players is publicly known with respect to which conflicts at intersections are resolved. We prove the existence of a pure Nash equilibrium and show that it can be constructed by sequentially computing an integral earliest arrival flow for each player. Moreover, we derive several tight bounds on the price of anarchy and the price of stability in single source games.
Cite as

Britta Peis, Bjoern Tauer, Veerle Timmermans, and Laura Vargas Koch. Oligopolistic Competitive Packet Routing. In 18th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2018). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 65, pp. 13:1-13:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)

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@InProceedings{peis_et_al:OASIcs.ATMOS.2018.13,
  author =	{Peis, Britta and Tauer, Bjoern and Timmermans, Veerle and Vargas Koch, Laura},
  title =	{{Oligopolistic Competitive Packet Routing}},
  booktitle =	{18th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modelling, Optimization, and Systems (ATMOS 2018)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:22},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-096-5},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{65},
  editor =	{Bornd\"{o}rfer, Ralf and Storandt, Sabine},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2018.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-97186},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2018.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Competitive Packet Routing, Nash Equilibrium, Oligopoly, Efficiency of Equilibria, Priority Policy}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.49
Competitive Packet Routing with Priority Lists

Authors: Tobias Harks, Britta Peis, Daniel Schmand, and Laura Vargas Koch

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 58, 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)

Abstract
In competitive packet routing games, packets are routed selfishly through a network and scheduling policies at edges determine which packages are forwarded first if there is not enough capacity on an edge to forward all packages at once. We analyze the impact of priority lists on the worst-case quality of pure Nash equilibria. A priority list is an ordered list of players that may or may not depend on the edge. Whenever the number of packets entering an edge exceeds the inflow capacity, packets are processed in list order. We derive several new bounds on the price of anarchy and stability for global and local priority policies. We also consider the question of the complexity of computing an optimal priority list. It turns out that even for very restricted cases, i.e., for routing on a tree, the computation of an optimal priority list is APX-hard.
Cite as

Tobias Harks, Britta Peis, Daniel Schmand, and Laura Vargas Koch. Competitive Packet Routing with Priority Lists. In 41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 58, pp. 49:1-49:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2016)

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@InProceedings{harks_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.49,
  author =	{Harks, Tobias and Peis, Britta and Schmand, Daniel and Vargas Koch, Laura},
  title =	{{Competitive Packet Routing with Priority Lists}},
  booktitle =	{41st International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2016)},
  pages =	{49:1--49:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-016-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2016},
  volume =	{58},
  editor =	{Faliszewski, Piotr and Muscholl, Anca and Niedermeier, Rolf},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.49},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-64622},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2016.49},
  annote =	{Keywords: packet routing, Nash equilibrium, price of anarchy, priority policy, complexity}
}
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