License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.109
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141786
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2021/14178/
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Saberi, Amin ; Wajc, David

The Greedy Algorithm Is not Optimal for On-Line Edge Coloring

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LIPIcs-ICALP-2021-109.pdf (0.7 MB)

Abstract

Nearly three decades ago, Bar-Noy, Motwani and Naor showed that no online edge-coloring algorithm can edge color a graph optimally. Indeed, their work, titled "the greedy algorithm is optimal for on-line edge coloring", shows that the competitive ratio of 2 of the naïve greedy algorithm is best possible online. However, their lower bound required bounded-degree graphs, of maximum degree Δ = O(log n), which prompted them to conjecture that better bounds are possible for higher-degree graphs. While progress has been made towards resolving this conjecture for restricted inputs and arrivals or for random arrival orders, an answer for fully general adversarial arrivals remained elusive.
We resolve this thirty-year-old conjecture in the affirmative, presenting a (1.9+o(1))-competitive online edge coloring algorithm for general graphs of degree Δ = ω(log n) under vertex arrivals. At the core of our results, and of possible independent interest, is a new online algorithm which rounds a fractional bipartite matching x online under vertex arrivals, guaranteeing that each edge e is matched with probability (1/2+c)⋅ x_e, for a constant c > 0.027.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{saberi_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.109,
  author =	{Saberi, Amin and Wajc, David},
  title =	{{The Greedy Algorithm Is not Optimal for On-Line Edge Coloring}},
  booktitle =	{48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)},
  pages =	{109:1--109:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-195-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{198},
  editor =	{Bansal, Nikhil and Merelli, Emanuela and Worrell, James},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2021/14178},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-141786},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2021.109},
  annote =	{Keywords: Online algorithms, edge coloring, greedy, online matching}
}

Keywords: Online algorithms, edge coloring, greedy, online matching
Collection: 48th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2021)
Issue Date: 2021
Date of publication: 02.07.2021

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